Cash surplus. Limit values ​​of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and a municipal entity. Zero deficit budgets at different levels

Introduction 2

1. Theoretical aspects budget balance 3

2. Budget deficit and sources of its financing 8

2.1. The essence of the budget deficit and the reasons for its occurrence 8

2.2. Types of budget deficit 12

2.3. Ways to cover the budget deficit 16

3. Budget surplus and directions for its use 22

3.1. Grade budget surplus 22

3.2. Surplus distribution mechanism 24

Conclusion 29

References 31

Introduction

Balancing the budget is one of the fundamental principles formation and execution of the budget, consisting in quantitative correspondence (equilibrium) of budget expenditures to the sources of their financing.

The best option for ensuring budget balance is to develop a deficit-free budget in which the volume of expenses, including the cost of servicing and repaying state (municipal) debt, does not exceed the amount of revenue. If it is not possible to avoid a budget deficit, even after completely exhausting the usual sources of financing, then to balance the budget one has to resort to different forms borrowing, which requires minimizing the size of the budget deficit at all stages of the budget process.

In Russia, the principle of budget balance is defined in the Budget Code as one of the basic principles for constructing the budget system.

Currently, budget balance must be ensured at each level of management through the efforts and professional skills of the employees of the relevant government authority. Great importance in these conditions, budget stability and the responsibility of the financial authority for ensuring it acquire.

1. Theoretical aspects of budget balance

Budget balance can be achieved by different methods. The balance of the budget, compiled by achieving equality of income and expenses, is ensured automatically. Balancing a budget drawn up with an excess of expenses over income (i.e., with a deficit) is achieved by finding sources of financing the deficit. In this case, budget balance assumes that planned expenses are equal to the volume of income and receipts from sources of financing the budget deficit. Budgeting with a surplus is formally acceptable, but it is the exception rather than the rule, since it has a number of negative consequences for economic development. In this case, the tax burden on business entities is overestimated, which leads to the withdrawal from their circulation of Money and reducing the efficiency of the economy as a whole.

The approaches of various governments to the choice of methods for balancing budgets varied at different stages historical development. Until the 30s. XX century national governments based their financial policies on the desire to achieve annual equality of income and expenditure. This was consistent with the idea of ​​a responsible government that does not unnecessarily increase spending, raise taxes, or accumulate debt. World economic crisis of 1929-1930. forced many representatives of economic science to reconsider their views on the validity of using this method of achieving budget balance. The crisis has clearly shown what a danger to society is posed by massive bankruptcies of enterprises, a growing army of unemployed and other negative consequences of the collapse of production and consumption. Anti-crisis measures became an integral part of the national policies of many countries, which involved the active use of public finance as a tool for regulating the economy. In the budgetary sphere, this practice was consistent with the policy of cyclical budget balancing with the justification of its deficit aimed at stimulating economic development.

Representatives of Keynesian theory substantiated the absence of the need to achieve annual equality of budget income and expenditures and laid the fundamental foundations for the use of government spending, taxes, budget deficits and government borrowing to optimize development conditions at different phases economic cycle. At the same time, the need to achieve equality of budget revenues and expenditures throughout the entire cycle was proven economic development, and not at its individual phases.

Since the 80s XX century based on the theory of “supply economics” (Keynesianism focused on regulating demand), new views on the problem of using public finance to stimulate economic growth. The theories of “compensating budget”, “functional finance”, etc. appear and begin to be applied in practice. Despite some differences in approaches to the tactics of using individual financial instruments in relation to the budget deficit, what is common to these theories is the recognition that it is not necessary to annually achieve equality between expenditures and budget revenues, the active use of government spending and tax policy to constantly maintain a favorable macroeconomic situation in the country. The gap between budget revenues and increasing expenditures is covered by revenues from government borrowing.

Currently, governments of economically developed countries have adopted recommendations modern theories use of public finances for the purposes of regulating the economy. Under these conditions, the budget deficit and the accompanying public debt are considered not as an “evil” of the economy, but as flexible and effective tools public policy. However, their use has certain limits. Economic science has established (and practice confirms this) that the maximum level of the budget deficit is 3% of GDP. The maximum limit of public debt in European Union, for example, is considered 60% of GDP.

Governments in developing and transition economies, where growth prospects cannot be accurately predicted and are determined by numerous (often random) factors, strive for budgeting based on equality of income and expenditure, but in reality they end up with budget deficits. Some of them (for example, the governments of countries whose economies are focused on the export of energy resources) are forced to pursue a policy of budget surpluses and the formation of stabilization (reserve) funds on this basis.

However, it should be noted that achieving equality of budget income and expenditure is quite a rare case in the practice of budgeting. It can only be achieved by curbing the growth of government spending and establishing in the country a level of taxation sufficient to generate budget revenues in order to cover all necessary and reasonable public needs. A surplus budget, as noted earlier, does not contribute to the efficient functioning of the economy. In most countries of the world, budgets are drawn up with expenditures exceeding revenues, and deficits often reach proportions that threaten the socio-economic development of states.

Budget deficit and surplus can be primary and general (final). A primary deficit occurs when the amount of budget expenditures (minus debt servicing costs) exceeds the amount of its revenues. A primary surplus is formed when income exceeds expenses (minus debt servicing costs). Overall deficit and surplus are determined based on comparison total amounts budget expenditures and revenues.

There are structural and cyclical budget deficits (surplus). A state that uses finance as a tool for regulating the economy may deliberately increase budget expenditures or reduce the tax burden on entrepreneurs. In this case, the emergence of a structural budget deficit is inevitable. The cyclical budget deficit is caused primarily by a reduction in the tax base in the context of falling production in the phases of economic crisis and depression, and only secondarily by the government’s desire to compensate for the reduction in demand by increasing government spending. The opposite situation arises in the phases of recovery and recovery: with the growth of production, the tax base expands and budget revenues increase, but the government reduces expenses in order to offset the increase in demand from entrepreneurs and the population.

Any budget deficit requires finding sources of financing. The main ways to raise funds to cover the gap between budget expenses and revenues are government borrowing, sale of government reserves, property and land plots, monetary emission (monetization).

Monetary emission is an inflationary way to cover the budget deficit, since it directly leads to an increase in the amount of money in circulation. This circumstance makes the use of monetization quite a rare occurrence in the practice of financing deficits: used in years of military confrontation, radical disruption of the socio-economic way of life of society, in conditions of a deep crisis of public finances, etc.

Debt financing of budget deficits through government borrowing is a largely non-inflationary way of covering the gap between budget expenditures and revenues. With the help of borrowing, the state redistributes demand from one consumer group to another, as well as between different territories without increasing aggregate demand. This predetermined the widespread use of this method of covering the budget deficit.

The sale of government reserves, property and land is also a non-inflationary way to finance a deficit budget. However, it is not used often because the implementation objects themselves are limited.

As a result of work to attract sources of financing the budget deficit, all budget expenditures are provided by sources of financing, and thus budget balance is achieved.

Thus, a balanced budget should be understood as a state of the budget in which the volume of planned expenses corresponds either to the volume of income (if income and expenses are equal), or to the total volume of income and receipts from sources of financing the budget deficit (if there is a budget deficit).

Budget Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 33 considers balanced budgets as one of the basic principles of the budget system of the Russian Federation and assumes the need to achieve equality of budget expenditures at all levels of the budget system with the total volume of budget revenues and receipts from sources of deficit financing. Budgeting with a surplus Russian legislation not provided.

2. Budget deficit and sources of its financing

2.1. The essence of the budget deficit and the reasons for its occurrence

The central place in the financial system of any state is occupied by the state budget - which has the force of law financial plan state (list of income and expenses) for the current (fiscal) year. IN modern conditions A budget deficit has become a typical phenomenon for the state budget of most countries.

Budget deficit is the excess of budget expenditures over its revenues; As a rule, the state budget deficit reflects an unstable economic situation, financial activities, is covered by finding internal sources of financing, government loans, and sometimes by issuing paper money, not supported by the mass of goods. Typically, budget deficits are associated with inflation. The external source of financing the budget deficit is loans from international financial organizations, mainly the IMF.

It should be noted that state budgets Western countries with developed market economy are also chronically in deficit and have a budget deficit of 10 to 30%.

Interestingly, in the early 90s, the state budget surplus was 9.3% of GDP. The state budget deficit reached a record level in Kuwait in the early 80s and amounted to more than 60% of GDP. And the United States has the largest government budget deficit in absolute terms in the world. In the early 90s, it reached $290 billion, or 4.8% of GDP, which, by international standards, is considered not dangerous for the economic development of the country (17).

Every government in its activities strives to ensure that the revenue side of the budget is equal to the expenditure side. Their correspondence is called “income balance”.

In reality, the expenditure side, as a rule, exceeds the revenue side. The emergence of a budget deficit is due to many reasons, among which the following can be highlighted: a decline in social production, inflated costs for the implementation of adopted social programs, increased defense costs, the growth of the “shadow” sector of the economy, an increase in the marginal costs of social production, mass release"empty" money. Special meaning of which have a decline in production and growth in the “shadow” sector of the economy. The presence of these reasons leads to a decrease in the tax base. In the first case, there is a reduction in production, the profit received decreases, and therefore, budget revenues decrease. As a result, the budget revenue plan is not fulfilled. In the second case, enterprises stop paying taxes altogether. After all, the “shadow” economy differs from the regular (“legal”) one only in that firms and enterprises operating in it are not registered anywhere and, therefore, do not pay any taxes. State bodies do not see them; they are in the “shadow”. As of 2003, up to 40% of GDP was produced in the “shadow”.

Deficits arise as a result of emergency circumstances: war, major natural disasters, etc., when usually reserves become insufficient and it is necessary to resort to sources of a special kind. The deficit may reflect crisis phenomena in the economy, its collapse, ineffectiveness of financial and credit relations, and the inability of the government to keep the financial situation in the country under control. In this case, it is an extremely alarming phenomenon, requiring the adoption of not only urgent and effective economic measures(on stabilization of the economy, financial recovery of the economy, etc.), but also relevant political decisions. From here it is clear that in the conditions of a dynamically developing economy with sustainable, and most importantly effective international relations, the budget deficit (of course, within quantitatively permissible limits) is not terrible. It should not be overly dramatized, because many economically developed countries have lived and continue to live in debt. True, in this case the quantity should not go into negative quality, i.e. the amount of financial resources received by the state should not place a heavy burden on the country's economy, on the shoulders of taxpayers, or be accompanied by a reduction in social programs. The situation is considered controlled when the public debt does not exceed half of the gross national product and the budget deficit does not exceed 2–3%.

Thus, the budget deficit itself cannot be something extremely negative for the development of the economy and the dynamics of the living standards of the population. It all depends on the reasons for its occurrence and the directions of expenditure of public funds. If the financial resources that make up the excess of expenses over income are directed to the development of the economy, used for the development of priority industries, i.e., they are used effectively, then in the future the growth of production and profits in them will more than compensate for the costs incurred and society as a whole from such a deficit only will win. If the government does not have a clear economic development program, and allows expenses to exceed revenues in order to patch up “financial holes” and subsidize unprofitable production, then the budget deficit will inevitably lead to an increase in negative aspects in economic development, the main one of which is the strengthening of inflationary processes.

The budget deficit undoubtedly belongs to the so-called negative economic categories, such as inflation, crisis, unemployment, bankruptcy, which, however, are integral elements of the economic system. Moreover, without them economic system loses the ability to move independently and progressive development. The budget deficit cannot be unambiguously classified as an emergency, catastrophic event, also because the quality and nature of the deficit may be different. The deficit may be due to the need for large government investments in economic development. In this case, it does not reflect the crisis social processes, A government regulation economic conditions, the desire to ensure progressive changes in the structure of social production.

It should be noted that the absence of a budget deficit does not mean the “health” of the economy. We must clearly understand what processes are taking place within the financial system itself, what changes in the reproduction cycle are reflected by the budget deficit.

2.2. Types of budget deficit

Exist the following types budget deficit:

The cyclical budget deficit is the result of the action of built-in stabilizers.

The structural budget deficit is the difference between budget expenditures and revenues under conditions of full employment.

The operating budget deficit is the total state budget deficit minus the inflationary part of interest payments on servicing the public debt.

The primary budget deficit is the difference between the total deficit and the total amount of debt payments.

Quasi-fiscal deficit of the state budget is a hidden deficit of the state budget, caused by quasi-fiscal activities of the state.

The cyclical deficit (surplus) of the state budget is the result of the built-in stabilizers of the economy. A “built-in” (automatic) stabilizer is an economic mechanism that allows you to reduce the amplitude of cyclical fluctuations in employment and output levels without resorting to frequent changes in economic policy. Such stabilizers in industrialized countries typically include a progressive tax system, a government transfer system (including unemployment insurance), and a profit-sharing system. “Built-in” economic stabilizers relatively mitigate the problem of long time lags in discretionary fiscal policy since these mechanisms are “switched on” without direct government intervention.

Creation effective systems Progressive taxation and employment insurance is a top priority for transition economies, where the objective difficulties of stabilization policy are combined with the lack of adequate tax, monetary and other macroeconomic management mechanisms.

Based on data on cyclical budget deficits and surpluses, it is impossible to assess the effectiveness of fiscal policy measures, since the presence of a cyclically unbalanced budget does not bring the economy closer to a state of full employment of resources, but can occur at any level of output. Therefore, built-in stabilizers are usually combined with discretionary fiscal policy measures.

The structural deficit (surplus) of the state budget is the difference between expenditures and budget revenues under conditions of full employment. The cyclical deficit is often estimated as the difference between the actual budget deficit and structural deficit.

Structural deficit estimates are used primarily in industrialized countries, where the size of budget deficits is determined more by cyclical fluctuations than by discretionary government action. Difficulties in determining the level of full employment of resources, natural level unemployment and potential output make it difficult to calculate structural surpluses and deficits of the state budget, although it is on the basis of the dynamics of these macroeconomic indicators that the effectiveness of fiscal policy measures in the long term is assessed.

In transition economies, the problem of the state budget deficit is even more complicated due to the fact that, as a rule, manipulation of its size is widely practiced - an artificial increase or, more often, a decrease in the size of the budget deficit in the current year.

The operating deficit of the state budget is the total deficit of the state budget minus the inflationary part of interest payments to service the public debt.

Debt servicing (i.e., payment of interest on it and the gradual repayment of the principal amount of the debt - its amortization) is an important item of government spending.

Reported budget deficits are often inflated by exaggerating government spending through inflationary interest payments on the debt. At high rates of inflation, when the difference in the dynamics of nominal and real interest rates is very significant, this overstatement of government spending can be quite significant.

There may be situations where the nominal official government deficit and nominal debt increase, while the real deficit and debt decrease, making it difficult to assess the effectiveness of government fiscal policy. Therefore, when measuring the budget deficit, an adjustment for inflation is necessary: ​​the real budget deficit is the difference between the nominal deficit and the amount of public debt at the beginning of the year, multiplied by the inflation rate.

The primary deficit (surplus) of the state budget is the difference between the size of the total deficit and the total amount of debt payments. The presence of a primary deficit is a factor in increasing the debt burden.

The actual burden of public debt for a particular country is determined, first of all, by the ability (or inability) of the state to service it. And this ability of the government to mobilize cash resources depends to a large extent on the size money supply than from the size of GDP.

Quasi-fiscal (quasi-budgetary) state budget deficit is a hidden state budget deficit existing along with the measured (official) one, caused by quasi-fiscal (quasi-budgetary) activities of the state.

Quasi-fiscal operations include, for example, the following:

Financing and payment of excess employment in the public sector by state enterprises wages at rates above market rates through bank loans or through the accumulation of mutual debt;

Accumulation in commercial banks spun off in the early stages economic reforms from the Central Bank, a large portfolio of non-performing loans - the so-called. “bad debts” (overdue debt obligations of state-owned enterprises, preferential loans to households, firms, etc.). These loans are, after all, repaid mainly through concessional loans from the Central Bank;

Certain transactions related to public debt, as well as financing by the Central Bank of losses from measures to stabilize the exchange rate, interest-free and preferential loans to the government (for example, for the purchase of wheat, rice, coffee, etc.); refinancing loans to commercial banks for servicing “bad debts”, as well as refinancing by the Central Bank of agricultural, industrial and housing government programs at preferential rates, etc.) by the activities of the Central Bank, state-owned enterprises and commercial banks, both in industrial and transitional economies.

2.3. Ways to cover the budget deficit

Exist following methods covering the budget deficit:

Monetization of the budget deficit.

External debt financing.

Domestic debt financing.

Increase in taxation.

Monetization of the budget deficit. In the case of deficit monetization (that is, domestic bank financing), a seignorate often arises - the state's income from printing money. Seigniorage is a consequence of the excess of the growth rate of the money supply over the growth rate real GDP, which leads to an increase in the average price level. As a result, all economic agents pay a kind of inflation tax, and part of their income is redistributed in favor of the state through increased prices.

In conditions of rising inflation, the so-called “Tanzi effect” arises - a deliberate delay by taxpayers in making tax payments to the state budget, which is typical for many transition economies. The increase in inflationary tension creates economic incentives for “postponing” the payment of taxes, since during the “delay” money depreciates, as a result of which the taxpayer benefits. As a result, the state budget deficit and the overall instability of the financial system may increase.

Monetization of the state budget deficit may not be accompanied directly by the issue of cash, but is carried out in other forms - for example, in the form of an expansion of Central Bank loans to state-owned enterprises at preferential rates or in the form of deferred payments.

Deferred payments are a way of financing a budget deficit in which the government buys goods and services without paying for them on time. If purchases are made in the private sector, then manufacturers increase prices in advance to insure against possible non-payments. This gives an impetus to increase general level prices and inflation rates.

If deferred payments accumulate in relation to public sector enterprises, then these deficits are often directly financed by the Central Bank or accumulated. Unlike monetization, they are officially considered a non-inflationary way of financing the budget deficit; in practice, this division turns out to be very conditional.

External debt financing. Alternative opportunities for external concessional financing of the budget deficit (for example, receiving gratuitous subsidies from abroad or preferential loans at low rates with long repayment terms) are the most attractive, since in this case the deficit not only does not have a negative impact on the economy, but can also be very useful if such financing is associated with the productive use of resources.

Often, however, the possibilities of preferential financing in transition economies are either limited due to significant external debt, or are used by governments primarily for unproductive purposes - for consumer subsidies, pension payments, expansion of the state apparatus, etc. Such additional budget expenditures cannot be quickly reduced if their external subsidies are stopped due to the lack of guaranteed internal sources of coverage, which increases total voltage in the fiscal sphere.

The use of external debt financing of the budget deficit is relatively effective when the level of domestic interest rates exceeds the world average and it is possible to relatively stabilize the exchange rate.

Domestic interest rates rise especially significantly when the government's expansionary fiscal policy is accompanied by restrictions on the money supply by the Central Bank in order to reduce inflation. Under these conditions, foreign demand for securities of a given country increases, which causes an influx of capital.

The increased foreign demand for domestic securities is accompanied by an increase in global demand for the national currency necessary for their acquisition. As a result, the exchange rate of the national currency tends to increase, which contributes to a decrease in exports and an increase in imports.

Raising funds from foreign sources to finance budget deficits may be a relatively attractive option for transition economies in cases where:

It is possible to organize concession financing;

There is a shortage of capital in the domestic market with a high internal rate of return;

The trade balance is relatively healthy with favorable prospects for market expansion;

The initial amounts of external debt are insignificant;

The primary objective of macroeconomic policy is to reduce likely inflation.

Internal debt financing. If the government issues government bonds for financing purposes, then the demand for credit resources increases, which, with a stable money supply, leads to an increase in average market rates percent. If domestic interest rates move freely, their rise may be large enough to distract bank loans from the private sector.

As a result, private domestic investment, net exports and partly consumer spending are reduced, causing a “crowding out effect” that significantly weakens the stimulating potential of fiscal policy.

Moreover, if the government intends to finance a significant portion of its budget deficit through the sale of bonds, then it cannot simultaneously pursue tight fiscal policy while keeping the interest rate below the expected rate of inflation. Bonds will be in demand only if the yield level is sufficiently attractive. If this indicator is low (or negative), then the possibility of domestic debt financing of the budget deficit will greatly decrease, even regardless of the degree of development of the domestic capital market.

In this case, economic agents will seek to purchase goods or invest their financial resources abroad, thereby limiting the government's ability to finance the budget deficit from domestic non-bank sources and worsening the balance of payments.

This imbalance may increase amid expectations of devaluation of the national currency (especially in an atmosphere of distrust in the policies of the government and the Central Bank), which contributes to the imbalance of the current account and creates the threat of a balance of payments crisis. From this point of view, domestic debt financing of the state budget deficit has a stronger impact negative impact on the balance of payments with relative stability of domestic interest rates than with their increase, although in the latter case the “crowding out effect” turns out to be more significant.

In the case of mandatory (forced) placement of government bonds in extra-budgetary funds (pension, insurance, etc.) at low (and even negative) interest rates, domestic debt financing of the budget deficit turns, in essence, into a mechanism for additional taxation. Moreover, when high level interest rates and significant government budget deficits, a sharp increase in the share of government internal debt in GDP inevitably occurs over time, especially at low rates of economic growth.

An increase in the burden of domestic debt also increases the share of government spending on its servicing, which leads to self-increasing of both the budget deficit and government debt. This seriously limits the ability to reduce fiscal tensions and stabilize inflation. In general, in transition economies, domestic debt financing of budget deficits is associated with relatively moderate costs only in cases where:

It is difficult to control the provision of credit to the private sector;

Domestic supply is relatively elastic;

External debt financing is relatively expensive or limited due to the significant external debt burden, while existing domestic debt is negligible;

Accompanying transition period inflation has reached high rates or appears absolutely inevitable.

Increase in taxation. It is no coincidence that I designated this method of financing the deficit last: the fact is that modern economics strongly doubts its effectiveness. Indeed, at first glance it seems obvious that increasing taxes is the easiest way to reduce or eliminate federal budget deficits. But there are some circumstances that make us think that increased taxes may only cause larger deficits.

Neoclassical economists looked at twenty years of data for the American economy and concluded that there is in fact a positive correlation between average federal tax rates (measured as a percentage of personal income) and the federal budget deficit (measured as a percentage of GDP). In other words, higher tax rates are associated with larger, rather than smaller, deficits.

This paradox is explained by the fact that if the government receives more financial resources, legislators will not only spend all the additional tax revenue, but also spend “a little more.” The authors believe that their results cast serious doubt on the thesis that tax increases will effective means reducing deficits. They argue that raising taxes could make the problem worse, not better.

A distinctive feature of the federal budget of the Russian Federation is its new and very unique design, which, in the opinion of the Government of the Russian Federation, implements the position stated in the budget message of the President of the Russian Federation that federal budget should be protected to the maximum extent from such external influences as changes in world prices for Russian export goods.

The mechanism of such protection is based on different macroeconomic forecast options for the formation of the revenue and expenditure parts of the federal budget. As a result, due to additional income received in conditions of higher export prices, a second, rather isolated part of the federal budget is essentially formed. This part of government financial resources is called the “financial reserve”. The source of the formation of the financial reserve is the free balances of the federal budget as of January 1 of this year.

During the execution of the federal budget, excess revenues over federal budget expenditures, as well as excess budget revenues, with the exception of funds from the unified social tax (contribution) intended to pay the basic part of the labor pension, are allocated to the budget to replenish the financial reserve. Pension Fund RF.

Financial reserve funds can only be used for:

Replacement of internal sources of financing the federal budget deficit: proceeds from the placement of government securities, proceeds from the sale of state-owned property;

Replacement of external sources of financing the federal budget deficit;

Repayment of public debt Russian Federation.

Financial reserve funds can be placed on financial markets in first-class highly liquid government securities (including government foreign countries).

Management of financial reserve funds is carried out by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation in the manner determined by the Government of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the resolution, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is granted the right to:

Place financial reserve funds on financial markets by investing in government securities of the Russian Federation and government securities of foreign governments that have the highest ratings from leading rating agencies;

Carry out the sale of these securities (in case of unfavorable market conditions) and use the proceeds to replace internal and external sources of financing the federal budget deficit;

Determine volumes, prices and terms of purchase and sale of government securities.

At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Finance is required to report quarterly to the Government of the Russian Federation on the volumes and directions of spending, as well as the methods and volumes of placement of financial reserve funds.

Funds received from the placement of financial reserve funds are taken into account as part of the financial reserve funds.

If federal budget revenues are received in amounts less than those approved in the consolidated budget schedule (with quarterly distribution) at the end of the reporting period, the transfer of funds to the financial reserve is reduced by the amount of the difference between the amount of federal budget revenues approved and actually received at the end of this period.

In order to avoid the formation of a federal budget deficit, it is not permitted to use financial reserve funds formed from free balances of federal budget funds as of January 1 to finance federal budget expenditures. A conceptual indication of the need to form a surplus budget and financial reserve is contained in the Budget Message of the President of the Russian Federation for 2003, which, in particular, states that “the formation and execution of a surplus budget creates the financial basis for further reduction of public debt.” At the same time, from the Government of the Russian Federation in Lately Quite often one can hear statements that in the future the practice of forming a surplus budget should be abandoned. The following arguments are traditionally given in favor of the existence of a surplus budget.

Firstly, the surplus, partially converted into a financial reserve, makes it possible to reduce the economy’s dependence on external factors (in particular, the situation in world energy prices). In this sense, a surplus (financial reserve) can be used as an economic stabilizer. In less successful years funds accumulated in more successful years can be used. From the point of view of supporters of this idea, a surplus can be useful for an economy that is highly dependent on external conditions.

Secondly, a surplus budget allows for a flexible policy of repayment of external debt.

Thirdly, a surplus can be considered as a way of softly regulating the money supply by removing the money supply from the economy in order to strengthen the national currency and suppress inflation.

In this regard, it follows that now the situation in the Russian economy is such that external factors to maintain economic growth do not have so much important as it was 2-3 years ago. From this point of view, economic policy should be aimed at reducing the tax burden, and not at suppressing the business activity of economic agents in the formation of excess budget revenues (surplus). Experience foreign countries shows that in the absence of a developed business sector, effective economic development is impossible. In particular, the US budget has been running deficits, with few exceptions, for many years. At the same time, the goal of economic policy is to stimulate the business activity of economic agents, and the main instrument of budget policy is to support priority areas development. Tight budget policy, focused on the excess of revenues over expenses (the actual withdrawal of money from the economy) with the formation of a surplus, does not correspond to these goals.

In order to talk about the need to create a surplus (long-term, or in individual years) from the point of view of optimizing debt servicing, it is necessary to have long-term calculations, which are missing. The surplus in the form in which it exists is a rather artificial formation. This is due to the fact that when calculating budget parameters, the Government of the Russian Federation operates with rather unrealistic indicators. Finally, the most important problem is the lack of legislative formalization of the institutions of surplus and financial reserve - they are not spelled out in the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. Please note that the planned surplus is shown, not the actual surplus. Accordingly, when revenues exceed expenses in excess of the planned amounts, the excess funds are spent in accordance with the procedure for spending the financial reserve, which, in addition to payments to repay the public debt, provides for the replacement of external and internal sources of financing the federal budget deficit. In this case, a logical paradox results: when the planned surplus amount is actually exceeded, the excess funds are directed to pay off the deficit.

An additional problem is that at the moment the financial reserve is not a real fund in which funds from fixed sources are accumulated during the year (as, for example, in the oil fund in Norway), but an analytical indicator as part of the balance of federal budget funds, determined by calculation. With this approach, the volume of the financial reserve may decrease in a situation where the funds of the financial reserve will not be used in the areas provided for by law (for example, to pay off government debt). In particular, a decrease in the financial reserve may also occur due to low tax collection, excess financing individual articles etc. In addition, the corresponding approach makes it practically impossible to promptly record and control the use of funds directly from the financial reserve. In fact, only the balances of funds in budget accounts as a whole can be taken into account and controlled.

The existence of a financial reserve in the form of an analytical indicator as part of the balance of federal budget funds, determined by calculation, fundamentally does not correspond to the very idea of ​​a financial reserve - an economic stabilizer.

A budget surplus in the coming years is technically inevitable; its presence is necessary due to generally accepted rules: payment of the main part of the public debt (its repayment) does not belong to the category of “expenses” (unlike interest payments), but to payments from “deficit covering sources”. And the presence of a surplus only shows that the required loan amounts are less than the debt repayment amounts.

The fact that public debt is falling can be assessed as a success of fiscal policy. But ensuring synchronization of debt payments and the proper size of the surplus is problematic.

It was proposed to create a financial reserve with the following objectives:

Ensure the safety of budget balances (arising as a result of unexpected surpluses in recent years);

Ensure the accumulation of reserves for debt payments during the execution of the next year's budget;

Allow the Government to optimize the payment structure by placing financial reserve funds or early debt payments.

The first two goals can be partially achieved by the proposed regulations. The financial reserve will be created from “free” budget balances as of January 1. But the rules related to the creation of the reserve also included provisions related to limiting the conduct of part of the expenses in the event of a lack of income, which reduces the transparency of the budget. As for the third goal, it is unlikely to be achievable until the performance criteria are clearly defined.

The main problems of forming a balanced federal budget in the area of ​​main income items are:

High level of indirect (direct) income;

Low level of national income;

Deterioration of socio-economic indicators of the country's development.

The main tasks of the government in 2011-2012 will be maintaining high rates of economic growth, combating the consequences of the IFC, as well as increasing incomes of the population. It is the state budget policy, as the most significant component of the government’s economic policy, that should be aimed at achieving these tasks.

Analyzing the prospects for the development of fiscal policy, we can draw a final conclusion about the prospects for fiscal policy and possible ways of its implementation in the interests of the future development of Russia: the main tasks to which the active economic policy of the state should be aimed are the development and diversification of the economy. In conditions high prices for oil and a budget surplus, taxes should either be reduced, thereby giving the economy the opportunity to determine development priorities through the market mechanism, or the funds accumulated in the Stabilization Fund should be used to pursue an active investment policy in the infrastructure sector.

List of used literature

1. Budget system of the Russian Federation: Textbook for universities / ed. M.V. Romanovsky. M.: UNITY, 2003.318p.

2. Vakhrin P.I. Budget system of the Russian Federation: Textbook. - Publishing and trading corporation "Dashkov and Co", 2002.456p.

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The mechanism for creating a state budget deficit or surplus can be presented as follows:

Balanced Budget-- equality of budget income and expenditure.

Budget deficit is the excess of state budget expenditures over its revenues.

Budget surplus- excess of budget revenues over expenses.

Scarcity-free budget does not mean the “health” of the economy. Since the centralization of financial resources in the hands of government bodies always reduces the financial capabilities of business entities, preventing them from better equipping production, quickly switching to new technologies and thereby achieving more efficient business results, in this regard, excessive mobilization of revenues into the budget only harms. It is because of this negative influence budget surplus for the economy is present in the legislation of many countries legal norm, which prohibits the formation and adoption of a budget with an excess of income over expenses.

If a budget surplus is revealed during the budget execution process, then its presence cannot be assessed unambiguously positively. A budget surplus resulting from more economical and effective use budget funds with 100% financing of budgeted expenses is a positive phenomenon. However, if higher budget revenues were received only as a result of a favorable economic situation, were the result of savings, a boom or underfunding of expenses, etc., then there is no reason to positively assess the budget surplus.

Budget deficit.

Budget deficit is a state of the budget that characterizes the excess of expenditures over revenues. With a budget deficit, the state does not have enough funds to carry out its functions normally and has to resort to various loans, primarily from the credit system, which negatively affects the stability of the entire monetary circulation and is the main cause of inflation. A budget deficit does not necessarily indicate some kind of emergency in the country's economy. It may be caused, for example, by the need to make large government investments in economic development, which reflects the growth of the gross national product rather than the crisis state of government regulation.

Possible emergencies related to wars, natural disasters, costs for which could not be planned in advance, but must be necessarily implemented regardless of the availability of funds in the budget reserve fund.

Reasons for the state budget deficit:

1. A fall in income in the context of a crisis in the economy and a decrease in the growth of national income.

2. Reducing excise taxes going to the state budget.

3. Increase in budget expenditures.

4. Inconsistent financial and economic policies.

There are several types of budget deficit:

Budget deficit (D). The amount of excess of government expenditures over its revenues within a fiscal year: D=G-T=G-T y y, Where D-- budget deficit, G-- government spending, T- taxes, T at -- income tax rate

The budget deficit is a negative value, the budget surplus is positive.

Structural deficit. The difference between current government spending and the revenue that could go to the budget under full employment conditions under the existing tax system: D cmp = G-T F

Cyclic deficit. Represents the difference between the actual and structural deficit: D cycle = T at (y F -y), Where at F -- national income at full employment.

General deficit(Real). Actual government budget deficit.

Primary deficiency. The actual deficit minus payments on the national debt.

The rate of inflation growth has a huge impact on the budget.

1. Since the deficit is the excess of expenses over income, it can be reduced by reducing budget expenditures. This occurs in practice, but this method is undesirable, since a reduction in the expenditure budget entails a reduction in aggregate demand, and therefore a reduction in GDP. However, this path is not always feasible, since a reduction in subsidies can exacerbate the economic downturn, and a reduction in social programs provokes social tension and leads to a decrease in aggregate demand, which in turn reduces production incentives.

2. Increase in expenditures is achieved by increasing taxes. This is undesirable, since increasing taxes entails a reduction in households and incentives for business development, a decrease in investment and consumption. The latter also reduces the possibilities for GNP growth, since it narrows the market capacity.

3. Another way to cover the budget deficit is the issue of money (increasing the money supply in circulation).

The issue of money today does not take the form of simply printing money, since this directly and directly contributes to the growth of inflation.

Currently, the issue is implemented through the creation of reserves of commercial banks. become the basis for a multiple increase in the amount of money in circulation. This is the most dangerous way to pay off the budget deficit, because it leads to an avalanche-like flow of inflation. States resort to this method of covering the budget deficit if it is impossible or inability to use other sources, but naturally to the detriment of the population and the entire state.

4. It is also possible to cover the budget deficit through the formation of public debt. This happens in different ways.

First of all, a state external debt, usually in foreign currency, by borrowing outside world. The Budget Code of the Russian Federation identifies the following sources of external debt formation:

Loans from other governments;

Loans from international financial institutions (banks);

Loans from banking institutions of foreign countries (in the form of loans);

Issue of government securities, i.e. bonds, and selling them on world stock markets.

To pay off the state deficit, internal debt is also formed, i.e. the state carries out its loans within the country. According to the Code of the Russian Federation, the following are distinguished: loans:

Credit borrowings from credit institutions (from banks);

Interbudgetary borrowings (from other subjects of the federation);

Sale of government securities (bonds) on stock markets within the country.

The life of a country, burdened with external and internal debts, requires a competent strategy and skillful use of credit funds in choosing the best option economic development.

Public debt management includes the following measures:

Effective use of borrowing funds;

Finding funds to pay off debt;

Neutralization of the negative consequences of public debt.

Budget surplus.

It is extremely rare when drawing up a budget that the opposite state of a budget deficit develops - a surplus, that is, an excess of revenues over expenses.

A surplus can arise as follows:

If the budget is drawn up in a balanced or deficit manner, but the income actually received in the process of budget execution exceeded the amount of income planned by the budget law or the amount of income and receipts from sources of financing the deficit;

If the planned amount of income initially exceeds the amount of expenses, despite the fact that the expenses meet the needs of the country’s socio-economic development;

If cost savings occur during budget execution;

If, in order to obtain a surplus, the planned amount of income initially exceeds the amount of expenses, then the expenses are underestimated relative to the potential level of financing and do not meet the needs of the country’s socio-economic development.

Particular attention should be paid to the concept of “primary surplus”. This concept is used when assessing the possibilities of reducing public debt. Primary surplus means that budget revenues minus borrowings must exceed expenses reduced by the amount of servicing the public debt (interest and repayment of principal). A primary surplus shows that part of the budget revenues goes to repay the public debt (i.e. budget revenues minus loans are more budget expenditures minus payments on public debt).

In reality this means the following:

DB -- K > RB -- OGD,

DB - state budget revenues;

K - loans and borrowings;

RB - state budget expenditures;

OGD - service of public debt (payment of interest and repayment of the capital part of debts).

In the case of a budget surplus, when drawing up a budget in accordance with Article 88 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, you should:

1. reduce the raising of income from the sale of state property;

2. provide for the allocation of budget funds for additional repayment of debt obligations;

3. increase budget expenditures, including by transferring part of the revenues to budgets of other levels.

A possible measure is to reduce budget tax revenues.

Federal budget deficit and its financing

During the preparation and consideration of the budget, it may turn out that the budget will be reduced with an excess of expenses over income, i.e., with a deficit.

In world practice, a safe level of budget deficit is considered to be no more than 3% of GDP. In 1991-1999 Budget deficits in Russia were significant. In 1997, there was a particularly large deficit, and the legislature was forced to sequester budget expenditures.

If the budget for another year with a deficit, at the same time sources of financing the budget deficit are approved. Sources of financing the federal budget deficit are:

1. Internal sources, namely:

Loans received from credit institutions in rubles;

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

2. External sources of the following types:

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

Loans from foreign governments, legal entities and international financial organizations in foreign currency.

Loans from the Bank of Russia, as well as the acquisition by the Bank of Russia of debt obligations of the Russian Federation during their initial placement cannot be sources of financing the budget deficit. This would mean that the deficit is financed by money creation.

Sources of financing the federal budget deficit.

Financing the budget deficit is covering the negative budget balance by attracting financial resources through government loans and reducing the balance of liquid financial resources of the state.

The sources of internal financing of the federal budget deficit include:

The difference between the funds received from the placement of government loans, carried out by issuing government securities on behalf of the Russian Federation, the nominal value of which is indicated in the currency of the Russian Federation, and the funds allocated for their repayment;

The difference between budget loans received and repaid by the Russian Federation in the currency of the Russian Federation, provided to the federal budget by other budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation;

The difference between loans received and repaid by the Russian Federation in the currency of the Russian Federation from credit institutions;

The difference between loans received and repaid by the Russian Federation in the currency of the Russian Federation from international financial organizations;

Changes in fund balances in federal budget accounts during the corresponding financial year;

Other sources of internal financing of the federal budget deficit (receipts from the sale of shares and other forms of participation in capital, from the sale of land plots, state reserves of precious metals and precious stones, reduced by payments for their acquisition; exchange rate differences from the federal budget, etc.).

Among the sources external financing The federal budget deficit takes into account:

1. the difference between funds received from the placement of government loans carried out by issuing government securities on behalf of the Russian Federation, the nominal value of which is indicated in foreign currency, and funds allocated for their repayment;

2. the difference between loans received and repaid by the Russian Federation in foreign currency from foreign banks and organizations, international financial organizations and foreign governments, including targeted foreign loans;

3. the difference between loans received and repaid by the Russian Federation in foreign currency from credit institutions.

4. other sources of external financing of the federal budget deficit (for example, the amount of funds allocated for the implementation of state guarantees of the Russian Federation in foreign currency).

SOURCES OF FINANCING THE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT

(billion rubles)

	January-August	For information January-August
General financing 1)
including: sources of internal financing 2)
state (municipal) securities, nominal value which is indicated in the currency of the Russian Federation
change in fund balances in budget accounting accounts 2)
increase in cash balances of the Reserve Fund
increase in cash balances of the National Welfare Fund
decrease in cash balances of the Reserve Fund
decrease in cash balances of the National Welfare Fund
other sources of internal financing of budget deficits
shares and other forms of capital participation held in state and municipal ownership
state reserves of precious metals and precious stones
exchange difference
budget loans provided within the country in the currency of the Russian Federation
other sources of internal financing of budget deficits
sources of external financing
including: government securities, the nominal value of which indicated in foreign currency
loans from foreign countries, including targeted foreign loans (borrowing), international financial organizations, other entities international law, foreign legal entities in foreign currency
other sources of external financing
1) Taking into account the repayment of the principal amount of debt (debt). The amount of excess of income over expenses (surplus) has a positive sign, and the amount of deficit - negative sign. The surplus or deficit is covered by financing of the same amount, but with the opposite sign. 2) Including budget cash balances.

Receipt of oil and gas revenues to the federal budget in January-August 2010. amounted to 2421.4 billion rubles, including the tax on the extraction of minerals in the form of hydrocarbons - 879.6 billion rubles, export customs duties for crude oil, natural gas and goods produced from oil - 1,541.8 billion rubles.

The total volume of the Reserve Fund (in rubles and foreign currency) as of September 1, 2010. amounted to 1228.9 billion rubles and increased compared to August 1, 2010. by 0.3%, the National Welfare Fund - 2671.5 billion rubles and 0.3%, respectively.

EXECUTION OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET. (billion rubles)

			Surplus, deficit(-)
January February
I quarter
January-April
January-May
I half of the year
January-July
January-August
January-September
January-October
January-November
January February
I quarter
January-April
January-May
I half of the year
January-July
January-August

The volume of federal budget revenues in January-August 2010. amounted to 68.1% of the forecast for 2010. volume approved by the Federal Law "On the Federal Budget for 2010 and for the planning period of 2011 and 2012" (taking into account Federal Law from 07/23/2010 No. 185-FZ).

Keynes multiplier in economics, this is a numerical coefficient showing how many times national income increases with increased investment.

There is such a thing as a balanced budget multiplier. Its essence is as follows: an increase in government spending, caused by an equal increase in taxes, leads to an increase in the equilibrium NNP (net national product) by the amount of the increase in government spending. The balanced budget multiplier is denoted as follows: K balanced budget.

Ks.b.= ^?NNP / ^?G; ^?TAX,

where ^?NNP is the increase in NNP, ^?G is an increase in government spending, ^?TAX is an increase in taxes. You can write it like this:

G = ?TAX = ?NNP

If government spending and taxes increase by the same amount, then the equilibrium NNP increases by the same amount.

Thus, through changes in taxes and government spending, the government influences the development of production and the dynamics of private national income. The choice of a combination of these regulators determines the effectiveness of adjusting economic development.

According to RIA Novosti: The surplus of the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation and the budgets of state extra-budgetary funds (pension, social insurance and compulsory health insurance) in 2011 amounted to 848.8 billion rubles against a deficit of 1.585 trillion rubles in 2010, according to the Rosstat report.

Consolidated budget revenues for 2011 amounted to 20.854 trillion rubles compared to 16.032 trillion rubles in 2010, expenses - 20.005 trillion rubles compared to 17.617 trillion rubles a year earlier.

Rosstat clarified that the federal budget surplus in 2011 was at the level of 430.8 billion rubles. Previously, the Ministry of Finance reported that the 2011 surplus amounted to 427.8 billion rubles.

Federal budget revenues for last year amounted to 11.366 trillion rubles, state funds - 5.82 trillion rubles, constituent entities of the Russian Federation - 7.644 trillion rubles, territorial extra-budgetary funds - 904.6 billion rubles. Federal budget expenditures amounted to 10.935 trillion rubles, state funds - 5.387 trillion rubles, constituent entities of the Russian Federation - 7.679 trillion rubles, territorial off-budget funds - 883.7 billion rubles.

The receipt of oil and gas revenues into the federal budget in 2011 amounted to 5.642 trillion rubles, including the mineral extraction tax (MET) - 1.989 trillion rubles, export customs duties on crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products - 3.653 trillion rubles.

In 2011, the consolidated budget of Russia received taxes, fees and other mandatory payments, administered by the Federal Tax Service, in the amount of 9.72 trillion rubles, which is 26.8% more than in 2010. In December, revenues to the consolidated budget increased by 32.3% compared to the previous month - to 931.7 billion rubles.

The bulk of taxes, fees and other obligatory payments of the consolidated budget in 2011 were provided by the income tax of organizations - 23.4%, mineral extraction tax - 21.0%, income tax individuals(NDFL) - 20.5%, VAT on goods (work, services) sold in Russia and imported from Belarus and Kazakhstan - 19.0%.