Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputies approved of amendments to the regional budget proposed by Governor Eduard Rossel on March 20, 2007, which resulted in raising the revenues by 9.805 billion RUR. The total budget now amounts to 88.111 billion RUR, with the budget expenditures estimated at 92.256 billion, or 13.949 billion more than prior to the amendments.

37% of these extra revenues will be invested in socially important fields, 42% will be transferred to municipal bodies. Additional 2.3 billion RUR, 2.4 billion RUR and 330 million RUR will be spent on healthcare, pay rise to civil servants (a 42% wage rise is expected by the end of the year), and orphanages, respectively.

195 million will be used to compensate the veterans for their communication service expenses. Another 1 billion RUR will be invested in road building and reconstruction. Mini-hydroelectric power stations are to get 20 million RUR worth of additional subsidies.

The Governor Administration expenses were raised by 4.9 billion, the regional legislative chamber expenses were raised by 12.6 billion RUR.

The region’s financial minister Maria Serova maintains Sverdlovsk Region’s budget revenues are expected to keep up with the same growth rates.

‘The revenues are mainly affected by the income tax and the federal budget subsidies,’ Ms Serova explained.