Ukrainian regions’ budget security in the conditions of public administration decentralization

Abstract

The significance of regions’ budget security as a component of financial self-sufficiency in the conditions of public administration decentralization is revealed. The definition content of «region’s budget security “ is defined from the standpoint of balance of local budgets in terms of revenues and expenditures, risk and threat assessment, sufficiency of financial support for the execution of functions and powers entrusted to local governments. The budgetary security of the region is proven to be a condition that ensures the balance of local budgets in terms of revenues and expenditures in current and strategic dimensions, which allows the local governments to fully fulfill their functions and powers, to neutralize the existing risks, threats and dangers. The author’s approach to rating regions of Ukraine is outlined. It is carried out on the basis of such key indicators as balance of the regional budget in % to GRP, budget’s revenues of the region per capita, budget expenditures per capita, ratio of the amount of received transfers to the sum of budget expenditures of the region in the consolidated state budget, the ratio of tax and non-tax revenues to the local budget, the share of tax revenues in the total budget of the region, the share of official transfers in the total local budget revenues, transfers from the state budget in % to GRP. This allows for determining of the level of budgetary security of territorial entities. The main methodological principles for the rating of regions are defined: the selection and evaluation of absolute indicators, the analysis of relative coefficients, the choice of integral indicators and the formation of rating estimates. The results of the analysis of the budgetary security of the regions revealed significant disparities in the formation of local budgets in terms of revenues and official transfers from the state budget and their significant budgetary differentiation. The uneven amount of transfers in total local budget revenues and the substantial dependence of territorial communities on public funding are emphasized.