The possibility of creating a regional development fund is being worked out in the Vitebsk region

This initiative will be aimed at solving the most significant and pressing problems by leveraging local potential. This was stated by the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Nikolai Sherstnev, during a joint meeting of the presidium of the Regional Council of Deputies and the Regional Executive Committee, dedicated to the results of the outgoing year.

Currently, the region's own budget revenues for 2016 are planned at slightly more than 11 trillion rubles, while the funding needs for all areas of the region's socio-economic life currently exceed our capabilities by more than twofold.

— The situation is not easy, but we need to deal with our own problems independently, for which it is proposed to create a reserve fund or a development fund, in the formation of which all local economic entities can participate, — said Nikolai Sherstnev.

At the same time, the head of the region immediately clarified: the proposal is still raw, the legislative and organizational foundations, as well as the mechanism for its functioning, are currently being worked out. In any case, the topic will be submitted for public discussion, although the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee is confident that the residents of Vitebsk region will approach this initiative with understanding. After all, it is with the help of such a tool that it will be possible to finance the completion of construction or reconstruction of significant social facilities that, for various reasons, were not included in the state investment program, including the regional one, as well as for improvement and other areas. The creation of a collegial body for fund management is not excluded.

According to the head of the main financial department of the Regional Executive Committee, Boris Kichanovsky, preliminarily, it is about creating an extra-budgetary investment fund (it will be replenished by a portion of the profit remaining at the disposal of subordinate organizations) or a stabilization fund under the Regional Executive Committee, which will accumulate sponsorship funds.

Sergey Antonov, "Vitebskiye vesti".