Concordance With the Social Goals of Post-War Recovery in the Formation and Use of Ukrainian Local Budget Funds

Abstract

The results of reforming the system of interbudgetary relations in Ukraine are studied in terms of the degree of local self-government participation in solving regional development problems. Normative and legal acts, which introduced changes in the functioning of administrations in wartime and changed the procedure for budget planning and reporting, are singled out. The paper offers options for dividing the country into functional types of territories to stimulate their direct financing. Emphasis is placed on the established norm regarding the mandatory preparation of a development strategy for each community. Attention is focused on the need to strengthen interstate partnership in the process of post-war reconstruction of the country and the implementation of European experience in the legislative regulation of regional development. The possibility of applying the European concept «S3» in Ukraine as a policy of determining priorities for the development of regions on the basis of smart specialization is outlined. The changes in the sources of revenues to the local budgets of Ukraine and the directions of their use for the purposes of post-war reconstruction are clearly presented and substantiated. Incomes and expenditures of local budgets for 2018—2022 have been analyzed. The interbudgetary transfer line items are singled out with the provision of proposals for the implementation of the system of vertical-horizontal equalization of communities’ capacity. The community sector’s levers of influence on the processes of local budget funds allocation in order to strengthen social ties and increase the social capital of territorial communities are determined. An assessment of changes in the structure of local budgets’ own revenues and in the composition of financed programs is carried out. Subsidization trends have been systematized and the subsidy level of community budgets has been determined. The advantages of the carried out budget decentralization reform and its next steps are argued. Proposals for measures to improve the communication policy in relations between state authorities, local self-government bodies and territorial communities are provided.