The concept of budget deficit, its economic essence and methods of managing it. On the procedure for determining the size of the local budget deficit The maximum size of the federal budget deficit

Chapter 13 of the Budget Code determines the possibility of a budget deficit and establishes that the excess of revenues over expenses is a budget deficit.

A budget deficit can arise as a result of:

• A) emergency in the country: war, major natural disaster, when usual sources of income do not cover new expenses and the state resorts to searching for new additional sources of income;
• b) the rise of the economy at a certain stage in the development of social relations, the consequence of which is an excess of expenses over income. In this case, the budget deficit finances progressive changes in the economy, and therefore is not considered a negative phenomenon;
• c) economic and political crisis. As a rule, this occurs due to the issue of money, the sale of bonds government loan, government securities, large turnover of cash money supply in the shadow economy. In this case, the budget deficit is a crisis phenomenon, reflecting the inability of the government to control the political and financial situation in the country.

World practice shows that the situation in the country is considered controlled when the budget deficit is 2-5%. The budget deficit inevitably leads to an increase in the country's internal and external debt. Russian legislation allows the presence of a certain amount of deficit in budgets of various levels, which is not considered a dangerous condition and does not require government intervention in budget regulation.

The Budget Code sets limits on the maximum size of the budget deficit at each territorial level. Shortage federal budget approved federal law on the federal budget for the next financial year and planning period and cannot exceed the size of the non-oil and gas deficit of the federal budget. The non-oil and gas deficit of the federal budget is understood as the difference between the volume of federal budget revenues excluding oil and gas revenues of the federal budget and income from the management of funds of the Reserve Fund and the National Welfare Fund and the total volume of federal budget expenditures in the corresponding financial year.

Regional budget deficit and deficit local budget for the next financial year or the next financial year and each year of the planning period is established by the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or by decision of a representative body local government about the corresponding budget.

When determining the size of the budget deficit, the authorities state power subjects of the Russian Federation and local governments must comply with the restrictions established by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Art. 92.1 BC. According to these standards, the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation should not exceed 15% of the approved total annual revenue of this budget, excluding the approved volume of gratuitous receipts.

In the budgets of depressed constituent entities of the Russian Federation (i.e. in the budgets of which the share of interbudgetary transfers, excluding subventions, from the federal budget exceeds 60% of their own revenues), the budget deficit should not exceed 10% of the approved total annual revenues of this budget, excluding the approved volume of gratuitous receipts .

The local budget deficit should not exceed 10% of the approved total annual revenues of this budget, excluding the approved volume of gratuitous revenues and (or) tax revenues according to additional deduction standards.

In the budgets of depressed municipalities (i.e. in the budgets of which the share of interbudgetary transfers from the regional budget, excluding subventions, and (or) tax revenues according to additional deduction standards exceeds 70% of their own revenues), the budget deficit should not exceed 5% of the approved total annual the volume of revenues of this budget without taking into account the approved volume of gratuitous revenues and (or) tax revenues according to additional deduction standards.

Exceeding the established limits is a violation of the budget legislation of the Russian Federation and entails the use of coercive measures provided for by the Budget Code.

Exceeding the limits on the volume of the regional or local budget deficit is possible only if the law of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation or the decision of the representative body of local self-government on the appropriate budget is approved as part of the sources of financing the regional or local budget deficit, proceeds from the sale of shares and other forms of participation in capital owned by the subject Russian Federation or municipal entity. If there is such a source of financing, the budget deficit may exceed the limits established by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Art. 92.1 BC, but within the limits of the amount of proceeds from the sale of shares and other forms of participation in capital and the reduction of balances in accounts for accounting for funds of the corresponding budget.

The budget deficit can be reduced in the following ways:

• a) use various forms of state and municipal credit within and outside the country. The deficit can be covered by placing government securities on the financial market. Permission for lending and placement of loans is approved by a representative government body. However, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 92 BC loans from the Bank of Russia, as well as its acquisition of state and municipal securities of primary issue cannot be sources of financing the budget deficit;
• b) change the direction of investments, directing them to those sectors of the national economy where the highest financial return on the money invested (oil and gas producing industries);
• c) sell part or all of the receivables on the world market;
• d) stop or reduce financial assistance to other states;
• e) conversion (if the political situation allows);
• f) attracting foreign capital to the country.

It is prohibited to use the emission of funds to directly cover the budget deficit.

1. If a budget for the next financial year with a deficit is adopted, the relevant law (decision) on the budget approves the sources of financing the budget deficit.

2. Current expenses of the subject’s budget Russian Federation, local budget, approved according to the law on the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or normative act representative body of local self-government cannot exceed the volume of budget revenues of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the volume of local budget revenues approved accordingly by the law on the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or a regulatory act of a representative body of local self-government.
3. The size of the federal budget deficit, approved by the federal law on the federal budget, cannot exceed the total volume of budget investments and service costs government debt Russian Federation in the corresponding financial year.
4. The size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, approved by the law of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the budget for the corresponding year, cannot exceed 15 percent of the budget revenues of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation without taking into account financial assistance from the federal budget.
If the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the budget for the corresponding year approves the amount of proceeds from the sale of property, the maximum amount of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation may exceed the limit established by part one of this paragraph, but not more than by the amount of proceeds from the sale of property.
5. The size of the local budget deficit, approved by the normative act of the representative body of local self-government on the budget for the corresponding year, cannot exceed 10 percent of the volume of local budget revenues without taking into account financial assistance from the federal budget and the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
If a normative act of a representative body of local self-government on the budget for the corresponding year approves the amount of proceeds from the sale of property, the maximum amount of the local budget deficit may exceed the limit established by part one of this paragraph, but not more than by the amount of proceeds from the sale of property.
6. Compliance with the limit values ​​established by paragraphs 2 - 5 of this article must also be ensured according to the report on the execution of the relevant budget for the financial year.

The commented article is devoted directly to the very concept of deficit, as well as limiting the size of the budget deficit.
According to general theory budget law when adopting a budget law for the next financial year, if this law provides for a budget deficit, i.e. the excess of expenses over its income, such a budget must necessarily determine the sources of financing the budget deficit.
If a budget for the next financial year is adopted without a deficit, the relevant law (decision) on the budget may provide for the attraction of funds from sources of financing the budget deficit to finance budget expenses within the limits of debt repayment costs.
The Budget Code of the Russian Federation has established a number of restrictions that must be adhered to when setting the maximum budget deficit for the next financial year.
Firstly, restrictions for the first level budget, i.e. federal budget. According to the law, the maximum value of the federal budget deficit is determined as the sum of the total volume of budget investments and expenses for servicing the public debt of the Russian Federation.
Secondly, second-level budget restrictions, i.e. regional. According to current legislation:
- current expenses of the regional budget cannot exceed the volume of regional budget revenues;
- the size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, approved by the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the budget for the corresponding year, cannot exceed 15% of the volume of budget revenues of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation without taking into account financial assistance from the federal budget.
Moreover, if the law of a subject of the Russian Federation on the budget for the corresponding year approves the amount of proceeds from the sale of property, the maximum amount of the budget deficit of a subject of the Russian Federation may exceed the limit, but not more than by the amount of proceeds from the sale of property.
Thirdly, these are restrictions for the third level of the budget, i.e. local budget. According to the Book Code of the Russian Federation:
- current expenses of the local budget cannot exceed the volume of local budget revenues;
- the size of the local budget deficit, approved by the normative act of the representative body of local self-government on the budget for the corresponding year, cannot exceed 10% of the volume of local budget revenues without taking into account financial assistance from the federal budget and the budget of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.
An important point is that if a normative act of a representative body of local government on the budget for the corresponding year approves the amount of proceeds from the sale of property, the maximum amount of the local budget deficit may exceed the limit, but not more than by the amount of proceeds from the sale of property.

E.A. Chugarina, Head of the Finance Department of the Perm City Administration

Dear colleagues!

On November 8, 2006, we sent a request to the Department of Budget Policy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation regarding the issue of clarification of the correct use of indicators to determine the maximum size of the local budget deficit. The sections “Financiers of Municipal Entities” and “Communities of Financiers of Russia” were invited to study the problem and make their proposals on this issue. Letters with a similar question were sent for discussion to the heads of financial bodies of local government.
I would like to thank everyone who shared their experience in solving this problem - the Department of Finance of the Administration of Lipetsk, the Financial Department of Bratsk, the Department of Finance of Krasnodar, the Financial Department of ZATO Seversk, the Department of Finance of the Administration of Izhevsk, the Department of Finance of Krasnoyarsk, the Ministry of Finance of Kaluga region in Kaluga, financial department of the city of Penza, financial and treasury department of the Administration of the city of Ivanovo, financial department of the administration of the city of Tula, financial department of the city administration of Khabarovsk, finance committee of the administration of Saratov, department of finance of the mayor's office of the city of Yaroslavl. All information on the experience of the regions provided by the NP “Community of Financiers” has been studied and analyzed.
Using the example of information provided by the Department of Finance of the Krasnoyarsk City Administration, the maximum size of the budget deficit of the city of Krasnoyarsk is determined without taking into account financial assistance from other levels of the budget system, including grants, subventions and subsidies.
When determining the maximum level of deficit financial management ZATO Seversk excludes all gratuitous receipts from budgets of other levels from the volume of income, while the budget deficit is 9.97%.
There are also opposing opinions. The financial department of the Tula city administration proposes to exclude from the volume of financial assistance the subventions provided for in accordance with Article 181 of the Budget Code by introducing appropriate changes to the Budget Code.

In addition, the problem of including subsidies in the form of an additional standard for deductions to the budgets of municipal districts (city districts) from income tax remains unresolved individuals when determining the maximum size of the local budget deficit. The problem is to determine the volume of the specified subsidy used to calculate the deficit in the case when the volume of the subsidy approved by the law of the subject does not coincide with the amount of deductions based on the tax potential of the municipality.
Article 138 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation provides that funds received by municipalities according to the additional standard of deductions from personal income tax in excess of the amount of the calculated subsidy (part of the calculated subsidy) are withdrawn to the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and (or) taken into account during the subsequent distribution of financial assistance to local budgets are not subject to, losses of the municipal budget in connection with the receipt of funds below the calculated subsidy (part of the calculated subsidy) are not compensated and are not taken into account in the subsequent distribution of financial assistance.
According to the Department of Finance of the Krasnoyarsk City Administration, the municipality should be guided by the amount of the additional standard of deductions that is established in the law of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The volumes approved by the budget law take into account the size of the subsidy and the financial management of the city of Penza.
Although there is an opposite opinion presented by the finance department of the Izhevsk city administration, where the index of the tax potential of the urban district is used in budget calculations.

We consider it timely to prepare a draft amendment and addition to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation.
In the proposed draft, which is under consideration, changes are made to Article 92 regarding the determination of the size of the deficit: “The maximum value of the budget deficit of a municipal formation should not exceed 10 percent of the approved annual volume of budget revenues of the municipal formation without taking into account gratuitous revenues and (or) tax revenues according to additional standards deductions."
It is proposed to exclude the concept of “financial assistance” and clarify the concept of gratuitous receipts: “Gratuitous receipts include:
grants and subsidies from other budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation;
subventions from the federal budget and (or) from the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
other interbudgetary transfers from other budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation";

There is another problem in determining the maximum level of the budget deficit - this is the problem of accounting for balances. Every year, planning budget parameters and deficits is complicated by the balances in the city budget account as of January 1 in the form of funds received from subventions from the federal and regional budgets that were not used during the year, as well as balances of funds from entrepreneurial and other income-generating activities. If a budget with a deficit of 10% is adopted, clarification of the budget for the balances of these funds leads to exceeding the maximum permissible level of the budget deficit.
We propose, due to the fact that income from business and other income-generating activities are funds of a targeted nature, when preparing draft amendments and additions to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 5 of Article 92 should be stated as follows: “The maximum value of the budget deficit of a municipal formation is not must exceed 10 percent of the approved annual budget revenue of the municipality without taking into account gratuitous revenues, income from the provision of paid services provided budgetary institutions, after payment of taxes and fees provided for by the legislation on taxes and fees and (or) receipt of tax revenues according to additional standards of deductions.”

1. If the budget for the next financial year is adopted with a deficit

the relevant law (decision) on the budget approves sources of financing

budget deficit.

If the budget for the next financial year is adopted without a deficit, the relevant

the law (decision) on the budget may provide for the raising of funds

from sources of financing the budget deficit to finance expenditures

budget within the limits of debt repayment costs.

2. Current expenses of the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, local budget,

approved according to the law on the budget of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation

or a normative act of a representative body of local self-government, not

may exceed the volume of budget revenues of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the volume

local budget revenues, approved according to the law on the budget of the subject

Russian Federation or a regulatory act of a representative body of a local

self-government.

3. The size of the federal budget deficit, approved by the federal law on the federal budget, cannot exceed the total volume of budget investments and expenses for servicing the public debt of the Russian Federation in the corresponding financial year.

4. The size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, approved

the law of the subject of the Russian Federation on the budget for the corresponding year, not

may exceed 15 percent of the budget revenues of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation

excluding financial assistance from the federal budget.

If approved by the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the budget

for the corresponding year the amount of proceeds from the sale of property is limited

the size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation may exceed the limit,

5. The size of the local budget deficit, approved by the normative act of the representative

local government body about the budget for the corresponding year cannot

exceed 10 percent of local budget revenues excluding financial

assistance from the federal budget and the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

If approved by a normative act of a representative body of a local

self-government on the budget for the corresponding year, the amount of proceeds from the sale

property, the maximum size of the local budget deficit may exceed the limit,

established by part one of this paragraph, but not more than by the amount

proceeds from the sale of property.

6. Compliance with the limit values ​​​​established in paragraphs 2 - 5 of this

article must also be provided according to the report on the execution of the relevant

budget for the financial year.

Chapter 14. Budget deficit and sources of covering it. State and municipal debt

14.1. Budget deficit and sources of covering it

Budget deficit is an excess of expenses over income at the corresponding level. In other words, this is a situation where, when the budget is approved, there are no revenue sources for part of the expenses. However, this does not mean that sources will not appear later, during budget execution.

The Budget Code determines that if a budget for the next year with a deficit is adopted, federal law, the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or a regulatory act of a local government body approves the sources of financing the budget deficit.

The Code also sets the maximum level of budget deficit for each level of the budget system.

The size of the federal budget deficit cannot exceed the total volume of budget investments and expenses for servicing the public debt of the Russian Federation.

The maximum size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation is related to the volume of income and cannot exceed 15 percent of the volume of budget revenues of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation without taking into account assistance from the federal budget.

The size of the local budget deficit cannot exceed 10 percent of local budget revenues without taking into account assistance from the federal budget and the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the code contains another restriction, according to which current expenditures of the budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities cannot exceed the revenues of the corresponding budget. Consequently, current expenses must, on the one hand, be supported by income, and on the other hand, their volumes must be determined when forming budgets, taking into account the planned volume of income.

At the federal level, the deficit is defined both as a total and as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). IN recent years the federal budget is approved without a deficit and even with revenues exceeding expenses

In 2003, the federal budget was approved for expenditures in the amount of 2 trillion. 345.6 billion rubles and in terms of income in the amount of 2 trillion. 417.7 billion rubles. The excess of income over expenses is determined in the amount of 72 billion 150 million rubles. At the same time, the GDP volume is projected at 13 trillion. 50 billion rubles, inflation level (consumer prices) 10-12 percent. The excess of income over expenses in 2003 is planned to be distributed as follows: 51.4 billion rubles will be used to pay off public debt and 20.7 billion rubles will be used to replenish the financial reserve.

Financial reserves are funds accumulated to pay off government debt in subsequent years.

Using the example of our conditional subject of the Russian Federation with a population of 800 thousand people, the budget parameters are approximately the following: expenses are determined in the amount of 4 billion 643 million rubles, and income in the amount of 4 billion 418 million rubles. The deficit was approved at 224.7 million rubles, which is 15 percent of budget revenues excluding assistance from the federal budget, or 4.8 percent of total budget expenditures.

Using the example of a municipality, we will consider the procedure for determining the parameters of possible expenses. The own income of a municipality - a city with a population of about 100 thousand inhabitants - is 320 million rubles. Taking into account the requirements of the budget code, the deficit cannot exceed 10 percent of income, i.e. will amount to 32 million rubles. Financial assistance from budgets of other levels is determined in the amount of 100 million rubles. Consequently, the budget expenditure of a given municipality should be determined in the following amount:

Expenses = Ext. own + Ext. Finnish pom. + Def. =320+100+32= 452 million rubles.

If the volume of planned expenses exceeds the amount determined above, local government will have to either reduce expenses on some items or find additional revenue at the municipal level.

It was already noted above that if the budget is adopted with a deficit, the document approving the budget must identify the sources of its financing.

For the federal budget, two groups of sources of financing deficits have been identified: external and internal.

External sources are defined in the following forms:

Government loans made in foreign currency by issuing securities on behalf of the Russian Federation;

Government loans foreign countries, banks and firms, international financial organizations provided in foreign currency, attracted by the Russian Federation.

Internal sources of deficit financing are defined in the following forms:

Loans received by the Russian Federation from credit institutions in the currency of the Russian Federation;

Government loans carried out by issuing securities on behalf of the Russian Federation;

Budget loans and budget credits received from budgets of other levels of the budget system of the Russian Federation;

Proceeds from the sale of federally owned property;

The amount of excess of income over expenditure on government reserves and reserves;

Changes in account balances for accounting for federal budget funds.

Sources of financing the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation are somewhat different from the federal level and consist only of internal sources in the following forms:

Government loans carried out by issuing securities on behalf of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation;

Budget loans and budget credits received from budgets of other levels of the budget system;

Loans received from credit institutions;

Proceeds from the sale of property of a state-owned constituent entity of the Russian Federation;

Changes in fund balances in accounts for accounting for budget funds of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

For the municipal level, the sources of financing the budget deficit in forms are practically no different from the sources identified for the constituent entity of the Russian Federation:

Municipal loans carried out by issuing municipal securities on behalf of the municipality;

Loans received from credit institutions;

Budget loans and budget credits received from budgets of other levels;

Proceeds from the sale of municipal property;

Changes in account balances for local budget funds.

In practice, the main sources of financing the budget deficit at the subject and municipal level are budget loans and loans from commercial organizations. Loans have not become widespread. The sale of property is a source that tends to decrease as sales proceed and ultimately becomes final.