Experts claim Chechnya's privileged position with regard to transfers

The budget process should take into account all aspects and not only the interests of some regions. This was stated by Dmitry Peskov, Spokesman for the Russian President, when he commented on the dissatisfaction voiced by Ramzan Kadyrov about the fact that the Russian Ministry of Finance had proposed to cut the region's budget for 2017. According to the Independent Institute for Social Policy, with regard to allocation of transfers, Chechnya is in a better position than most Russian regions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 31, Ramzan Kadyrov stated that Chechnya was not satisfied with the plans to reduce the budget of the republic, developed by the Russian Ministry of Finance.

"It is not just a topic for agreement or disagreement. This is a topic to be argued. And the issue is connected not only with the interests of a single subject of the Russian Federation, but it is a matter of the country's total budget. It is a substance, difficult enough, in which all aspects are to be taken into account. And that will take place in the State Duma," said Dmitry Peskov as quoted by the "TASS".

On November 1, the next day after the statement made by Ramzan Kadyrov, the newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reported that Vladimir Putin instructed the government to discuss the issue of increasing funding of Northern Caucasus.

It should be noted that, according to the Independent Institute for Social Policy (IISP), in the first half of 2016, 68 Russian regions experienced a decline of transfers from the federal budget.

Meanwhile, Chechnya has received a significant raise. During the first half of 2016, the ChechenRepublic received by 14% of transfers more than in the same period of the past year, while in total, all the regions received transfers reduced by 12%," noted Natalia Zubarevich, the director of the regional programme of the IISP.

According to the authors of the report, "for political reasons, the support of Chechnya is not reduced even in case of the federal budget deficit."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.