On the relationship between Russia's national development goals and budgetary spending – The attainability of the goals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Subject. The article discusses target indicators of national development goals of Russia, governmental programs, national projects, and priorities of budgetary finance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives. The study traces a correlation between national development goals of Russia and national projects as structural constituents of governmental programs. The article also investigates opportunities for attaining the national goals during the coronavirus crisis. Methods. The study relies upon systems and institutional approaches. I also resorted to the analysis, synthesis, comparison. Results. Target indicators of national goals and national projects were found to have no logic relationship in some cases, with quantitative indices being neglected or contradictory at all, thus making it difficult to evaluate the efficiency of budgetary spending. I detected considerable structural shifts in expenditures of the federal budget from 2020, since financial resources should be optimized due to growing budgetary restrictions. Conclusions and Relevance. The efficiency of budgetary spending can be adequately evaluated only if there is a firm logic correlation and quantitative consistency between target indicators of the national development goals of Russia and those of national projects as part of the Russian governmental programs, which serve as a financial vehicle of the national goals. The findings can be used by those involved into the budgetary process throughout all levels when planning budgetary expenditures.