“The situation is difficult, money is not enough”: the Parliament of Kuzbass revised the budget-2026

The Minister of Finance of Kuzbass Igor Malakhov made a report to the deputies and unambiguously described the situation:

- To be clear, the situation is complicated, there is not enough money in the budget, this is an objective reality. The assessment of the expected budget performance indicates a projected decrease in tax and non-tax revenues, the minister said.

According to Malakhov, because of the sanctions, the region has been living in a “severe crisis” for the fourth year amid falling incomes. For two years now, the government has been optimizing spending. Last year, the minister said, it was necessary to reduce the wage fund for state employees by 10%, and in other areas - by another 25%.

These measures gave savings, but did not solve the problem completely: by the end of 2025, 11.4 billion rubles were saved, in the first half of 2026 - another 4.4 billion rubles. However, this, as the authorities stressed, was not enough – to cover the deficit, you have to take bank loans. At the same time, due to the high debt burden, the region can no longer borrow money in the previous volumes.

Separately, the minister drew attention to the growth of debt to resource-supplying organizations: compensation for lost income was paid only until April, and the debt approached 3 billion rubles. In addition, the debt of the consolidated budget, according to the announced data, has increased 2.1 times since the beginning of the year and reached 4.8 billion rubles.

- We have to live within our means. So far, we are spending more than we earn, Malakhov said.

Following the meeting, the deputies approved changes: the revenues of the regional budget for 2026 increased by 7.4 billion rubles to 203.7 billion, expenses increased by the same amount to 230.3 billion rubles. The deficit was kept at the same level - 26.6 billion rubles.

The growth of the revenue part will provide, in particular, subsidies (plus 5.8 billion rubles), gratuitous receipts (plus 955 million), subventions (plus 405 million) and other sources.

Additional funds will be distributed according to priority items: 4.1 billion rubles will be directed to increase the payroll fund for employees of educational institutions, another 1.83 billion rubles for payments to certain categories of citizens. Also, 113 million rubles will be allocated to resource-supplying organizations in 10 municipalities for coal.