State support of JSC “Russian railways”

Abstract

The main sources of funds for railway investment projects in Russia are still state and regional budgets, funds from the National Welfare Fund, the net profit of Russian Railways, and pension savings from the Pension Fund of Russia. The reform of the system of the Ministry of Railways and the creation of JSC “Russian Railways”, which began in 2016, has not yet released the state budget from financing its needs, and there has been no active use of private investment. Moreover, the monopoly began to seek to shift the financing of not only the modernization and construction of tracks, but even the maintenance of existing infra-structure on the shoulders of the state and shippers. From year to year, there is an increase in the total amount of state support for Russian Railways. Part of the received state support funds in the period under review is spent inefficiently by JSC “Russian Railways”. The remaining budget funds that are not used by JSC “Russian Railways” additionally burden the economy, increasing inflation by various surcharges to tariffs, but the available budget funds are not selected in full, and billions of fines are paid for this. There are low rates of implementation of individual investment projects, overestimation of expenses for the purchase of equipment, an increase in the cost of construction, the cost of contracts for a number of objects exceeds the cost determined by state expertise, etc.

Keywords

• state support
• federal budget
• regional budgets and off-budget funds