Combined budget deficit for Russian regions to drop to 300 bln rubles in 2011 - Kudrin
MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - The total combined deficit for regional budgets in Russia will come to around 300 billion rubles in 2011, Deputy Prime Minsiter and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said to the State Duma on Wednesday.
"We expect over 400 billion rubles in [regional] deficits for this year while the total budget deficit for Russian regions will come around 300 billion rubles next year," Kudrin said.
Kudrin said that his ministry forecasts surpluses for around 22 Russian regional budgets this year along with 61 regional budget deficits, which is a decrease from 2009. He said that the total number of regional budget with surpluses would increase while budgets with deficits should decrease.
He added that the 2011 federal budget includes preferred loans for regional budgets. These funds will go to road repairs and balancing regional budgets.