Abstract. The article focuses on the ambiguity of the economists’ scientific position to the state budget imbalancing. The understanding of the balanced state budget in terms of revenues and expenditures in accordance with the concept of «healthy finances» is substantiated. The shortcomings of the concept of «healthy finances» are revealed, in particular, the fact that the annual balancing of budget revenues and expenditures excludes or significantly reduces the possibility of countercyclical, stabilizing influence of the state fiscal policy. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the concept of chronic budget deficit and the specifics of deficit financing of public expenditures within the concept of countercyclical regulation. At the same time, it is proved that budget’s balancing is a secondary problem according to the concept of functional finance. It has been found that budget deficits can have both positive and negative socio-economic effects, depending on the circumstances in which they are formed. The types of state budget deficit are identified and characterized, namely: nominal, real, operating, primary, actual, hidden, quasi-fiscal, aggregative, active, passive, perceived, structural, cyclic deficits. It is proved that the main task of the state is to balance it in order to balance revenues and expenditures of the state. The article considers the approach to estimating budget imbalance using Cauchy inequality and an algorithm for estimating budget imbalance is formed. It is proved that ensuring budget balance is possible in the following areas: improving the quality of planning of key budget indicators; expansion of the income base; budget expenditure optimization / sequestration; targeted financing; improving the efficiency of state property management, budget control; introduction of result-oriented budgeting and audit of the efficiency of the use of budget funds; improvement of intergovernmental relations; public debt management. The article develops a scientific and methodological approach to imbalances estimating, in particular the Consolidated Budget in terms of substantiating the limit value of the imbalance measure based on the application of Cauchy inequality, as well as determining the impact of dynamic changes in budget imbalance based on the method of chain substitutions. The advantages of this scientific and methodological approach are the ability to compare estimates of budget imbalances, which differ significantly in the amount of financial resources redistributed through the budget, because such estimates are relative, which eliminates the effect of budget scale. Keywords: budget system, budget, budget deficit, deficit financing, budget balance, imbalance assessment, countercyclical regulation of the economy. JEL Classіfіcatіon G18, H6 Formulas: 3; fig.: 1; tabl.: 1; bibl.: 10.