Regions’ Budgets in 2020: Support by the Russian Federation and Anti-Crisis Policy

Alexander N. Deryugin – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Researcher of the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In 2020, the budget policy of the Russian Federation regarding regions had a strongly pronounced counter-cyclical nature aimed at immediate support of the worst-off subjects. This measure allowed to offset declining tax and non-tax revenues and ensure implementation of regional anti-crisis measures intended to strengthen the public health system, support of the economy and the social sphere.

Proper tax and non-tax regions’ revenues contracted by merely 1.8%, which is a good result against the 2009 and 2014–2015 crises and was mainly due to a rebound in tax receipts in H2 2020.

The all-time high public regional debt amounting to Rb2.5 trillion at the end of 2020 does not pose a serious threat for their budget stability owing to a relatively low debt burden.

Key words: regional budgets, revenues of the regional budgets, expenditure of the regional budgets, regional public debt, budget loans, crisis.

JEL-codes: Н61, H62, H63, H71.