Russian govt proposes to defer part of regions' debt on budget loans to 2030

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - The Russian government has submitted a bill to the State Duma that proposes to defer the repayment of a portion of regional governments' debt on budget loans due in 2026 to 2030.

The provision is included in the bill (No. 1254383-8) to amend the Budget Code and some other laws, which was posted in parliament's electronic database on Monday.

At present, a third of regions' debt on budget loans is repaid based on the repayment schedules in effect as of March 1, 2024 in the period from 2026 to 2036, inclusive. The annual interest rate on the loans is 0.1%, charged on the balance of debt.

Under the proposed changes, the part of the debt that regions are supposed to repay in 2026 will be deferred to 2030, meaning regions would not have to make such payments this year.

The federal government is also proposing to carry out an experiment to provide regions with short-term budget loans to top up balances on the unified budget account that would be due no more than five days into the month after the month in which the loan was extended.

The bill would give the Federal Treasury the authority to conduct such an experiment, according to rules set by the government. The annual interest rate on such loans would be 0.1%.

If the bill is passed into law, it will go into effect on the day of its official publication.