The state debt of the Russian Federation, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities

The state debt is the obligations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation arising from the state loans assumed by the Russian Federation, guarantees for the obligations to repay in the same amount with the payment of additional interest for the use of the loan. The issue of state and municipal debt and the resulting need for regional and municipal borrowing are particularly relevant for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities, since the current fiscal mechanism does not actually provide the principle of independence and balance of budgets,according to which the amount of budget expenditures should correspond to the total amount of budget revenues. According to the authors, the lack of funds is caused not only by the budget deficit, but to a greater extent by the shortcomings of the existing fiscal mechanism. The relationship between the budget deficit and the state debt is manifested in the subsequent increase in debt obligations due to the need to repay the debt and interest for using it. The purpose of the article is to assess the debt burden at the level of the state, constituent entities and municipalities in the current economic conditions, the impact of the revenues of the respective budgets on it.

Colonial Debts

With the largest municipal debt in US history and a major hurricane that destroyed much of the archipelago's infrastructure, Puerto Rico has emerged as a key site for the exploration of neoliberalism and disaster capitalism. In Colonial Debts Rocío Zambrana develops the concept of neoliberal coloniality in light of Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Drawing on decolonial thought and praxis, Zambrana shows how debt functions as an apparatus of predation that transforms how neoliberalism operates. Debt functions as a form of coloniality, intensifying race, gender, and class hierarchies in ways that strengthen the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. Zambrana also examines the transformation of protest in Puerto Rico. From La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción's actions, long-standing land rescue/occupation in the territory, to the July 2019 protests that ousted former governor Ricardo “Ricky” Rosselló, protests pursue variations of decolonial praxis that subvert the positions of power that debt installs. As Zambrana demonstrates, debt reinstalls the colonial condition and adapts the racial/gender order essential to it, thereby emerging as a key site for political-economic subversion and social rearticulation.

Linguistic tone of management discussion and analysis disclosures and the municipal debt market

PurposeAs the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section contains discretionary narrative disclosures regarding a government's yearly financial changes and status, the authors investigate several municipal debt market consequences of linguistic tone within these disclosures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors textually analyze municipal MD&As with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software and develop narrative tone measures based on existing financial-specific dictionaries. Using a final sample of 446 municipal bond issuances from 2012 to 2016, the authors modify the current bond regression models to examine the association between MD&A disclosure tone and future bond interest costs or rating disagreements.FindingsThis study’s empirical analysis suggests that more negative MD&A tone is associated with higher future debt costs and greater future disagreements among bond rating agencies.Practical implicationsOverall, the evidence implies that municipal bond stakeholders use the information in narrative disclosures when evaluating risk, but that the qualitative nature can introduce differences in interpretation between users. Furthermore, additional training in MD&A writing and further standard guidance in MD&A disclosures could improve the MD&A's informativeness for bond market decision-making and state-level monitoring.Originality/valueThis study is first to incorporate narrative tone measures into bond models in a governmental context.

Financial imperatives for local budgeting

Subject. In the study, I evaluate how financial imperatives and restrictions influence the formation and use of the local budget. Objectives. The study analyzes causes of the deficit of the local budget, municipal debt and debt servicing expenses and review them for current limits set by the budgetary laws. Methods. I analyzed scholarly data and other information and conducted the synthesis of the findings. Results. To ensure that the local budget is compliant with lawful financial imperatives that govern budgetary planning and local forecasts. I suggest how the profitable part of the local budget should be backed and expenditures should be optimized. Conclusions and Relevance. Income and expenditures of the local budget are regulated with financial imperatives set by the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, such as the balance of income and expenditures, limit of the deficit, limit of the municipal debt, the upper limit of municipal debt servicing expenditures. To ensure the compliance and increase the profitable part of the local budget, municipal authorities should more actively support investment projects and SME, update the information about the taxable base and holders of real estate for purposes of non-taxable income growth, handle overdue payments and underpaid taxes and property payments more intensively. To optimize expenditures of the local budget, it would be reasonable to replace the region’s debt liabilities to credit institutions with cheaper publicly-funded loan from the higher-level budgets, and refinance the current debt liabilities to credit institutions as the Central Bank of the Russian Federation decreases the key rate.