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By Anatoly Medetsky
The Primorye Duma that so impatiently waited for this yearÒs budget said it didnÒt want such a budget when it finally got to review the bill Jan. 21. Lawmakers didnÒt pass the budget in the first reading and set up a working group to improve a document which they believe has three major flaws: an enormous deficit, underestimated revenues, and omission of the regionÒs debts. The group is to complete its improvements by Feb. 10. Compiled at the time of continuing economic depression in Primorye, the budget presented to the Duma listed revenue at 2.76 billion rubles ($128 million), while spending was 3.72 billion rubles. This would leave a deficit of 957 million rubles, or 25.6 percent. The proposed budget deficit contradicts the Federal Budgetary Code that went into effect Jan. 1 and which says the maximum deficit shouldnÒt exceed 5 percent, said Vladimir Ksenzuk, member of the Duma Committee on Budgetary and Taxation Policies and Financial Resources. Disputing the low revenues, legislators said inflation is under way and there should be more rubles flowing to the coffers in taxes than the presented budget showed. And someone has to address the debts the region has made for years. In 1999, the region needs to find 1.25 billion rubles to repay loans from the Finance Ministry and 558 million rubles to pay on the bonds, which cumulatively is 65 percent of the yearÒs projected revenue.
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