Budget financing of a region’s social and economic development: program-targeted approach

Abstract

The implementation of national regional policy depends on the extent to which its mechanisms and instruments ensure effective regional development. One of the important tools for solving the problems of social and economic development of the regions is the program approach to planning and management of the regions. However, the situation with funding and implementation of regional target programs in the regions is unsatisfactory. The purpose of the article is to investigate trends and find out the problems of budget financing of social and economic development using the program-targeted approach on the example of Zaporizhzhia region. The following methods were used for the study: historical, abstract and logical, systemic and comparative analysis. In the article, the issues of budget financing of social and economic development using a program-targeted approach are examined. The regional target programs and projects of the State Regional Development Fund for Zaporizhzhia region are analyzed. The following main features, weaknesses and problems of financing are identified: the dominance of the social component of the regional programs and projects of the State Regional Development Fund over the development-related one; duplication of tasks and activities by different programs; inconsistency of regional target programs with the strategic and operational goals of regional development strategies; fragmentation of regional target programs, which significantly complicates their management The directions of improvement of the regional target programs’ funding that correspond to the peculiarities of the current stage of social and economic development of Ukraine are outlined: activation of extrabudgetary financing, control of program measures implementation, elimination of duplication of program measures.