Russian regions must learn to earn money - finance minister

Russian regions must learn to earn money by themselves. This is a task for the new governors, Russian Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said on Sunday.

"The goal of the regional policy is not to allocate assistance to the regions, but to teach them to earn money, as, regrettably, a number of regions have grown accustomed to receive ‘manna from heaven’ from the federal center and have been dodging efforts to create a taxation base, to create conditions for businesses," he said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher weekly news roundup on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

"This is a reason for the change of governors: we see young people who are eager to prove their worth. Their key task is to demonstrate what regional economies can achieve under new management."

Chairperson of Russia’s Audit Chamber Tatiana Golikova dwelled on the "dismal situation" in financial management in Russian regions. "The latest, including political, changes linked with the rotation of governors stemmed from the fact that inefficient administration had entailed debts and in some cases even wasteful spending. Regrettably, and we see it, there are elements of embezzling budget funds and concurrent non-implementation of liabilities before citizens. So, I think now that the year 2018 is approaching we must keep a close eye on this financial situation," she said.