The authorities of St. Petersburg have proposed cutting tens of billions of rubles in budget spending, including on education, healthcare, housing and utilities, and defensive structures, while increasing funding for payments to participants in the war against Ukraine and their families. The Moscow Times reports this, citing a draft of amendments to the city budget, writes UNN.
Details
St. Petersburg’s total expenditures are proposed to be cut by 70.2 billion rubles, to 1.58 trillion rubles. At the same time, budget revenues are expected to amount to 1.472 trillion rubles, 9.8 billion more than in the previous plan.
The largest cuts include 15.5 billion rubles in education funding and 8.5 billion in healthcare. Another 13 billion could be taken from the major renovation of educational institutions and children’s recreation, while 6.8 billion could be cut from housing and utilities.
There will be more money for payments to participants in the war
Against this backdrop, the city authorities plan to allocate an additional 6.4 billion rubles for payments to participants in the war against Ukraine and their families. Another 4.8 billion has been earmarked for public-sector employees’ salaries and 1.6 billion for medicines for beneficiaries.
Cuts will also affect other areas. Funding for ground transportation and the purchase of rolling stock will be reduced by 9 billion rubles, landscaping by 2.3 billion, and road repairs by 1.9 billion. Spending on the inspection and repair of civil defense protective structures is planned to be cut by nearly 1 billion rubles.
The authorities of St. Petersburg explain the budget revision by the high cost of loans, the “cooling of the economy,” and the desire to limit new borrowing. After the changes, the city budget deficit is planned to be reduced from 189 billion to 108.8 billion rubles.