Effects of Indebtedness of Self-governing Regions: Comparison Between Selected Central European Countries

Abstract

We are enriching the debate on the indebtedness of self-governing regions with a scientific article that focuses on the effects of this phenomenum of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic as selected Central European countries. The main purpose of the article is to find out possible measures and solutions in the stabilisation of the financial security of self-governing regions in the surveyed countries. The research refers to the monitored period from the accession of both countries to the European Union in 2004 (data summarized in 2005) till 2022 when the final annual statistical data of the regional final accounts (referring to 2021) are available. Descriptive statistical method was used to express the development trends of indebtedness, represented by line graphs and tables. The data were aggregated for individual budget years in all self-governing regions, due to significant differences in the structure of fragmentation, the research results were interpreted through the indebtedness per inhabitant and the share of indebtedness to current income determined by the legal framework. Through the study of foreign and domestic scientific literature, possible preventive measures for reducing self-governing regions debt were proposed when using returnable funding sources after joining the European Union of these two countries.