Ingushetia Government and Economy Headed toward Financial Collapse, Chablin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 22 --  The financial situation of many agencies of the Ingush government is now so precarious that they have closed their bank accounts and are unable to pay employees, and businesses which rely heavily on government subsidies are in a downward spiral because they are not getting the funds they were promised, Anton Chablin says.  

            Last year, tax revenues were 20 percent less than planned, the analyst continues; and during the first eight months of this year, they formed only 28 percent of the total annual amount projected. These shortfalls are being covered from Moscow but have created disorder in the republic (6portal.ru/posts/если-чиновники-такие-умные-то-почему-р/#more-643).

            Many parts of the government are less than fully functional, and businesses which rely heavily on government spending and investment are in decline, pushing tax revenues down and thus creating a vicious circle that subventions from Moscow have not been able to slow let alone stop.  

            Indeed, Chablin says, “many major industrial enterprises of Ingushetia (those which really could generate a profit) are now stopping work.” The new prime minister, Konstantin Surikov, has promised to find money to keep them open, “but when this will happen, one can only guess.” If the enterprise close, the government will face even more difficulties.

            Official statistics confirm this analysis, the commentator says. “According to the finance ministry of the republic, in the first half of 2019, on the development of industry in Ingushetia was spent 21 percent less than a year earlier; on the national economy, 47 percent less; and on agriculture and the food industry, 68 percent less.”  

That means, Chablin says, that “the existing structure of budgetary expenditures is de-stimulating business” and that with business in decline, government revenues will fall further, and so on and on. 

            This pattern explains but doesn’t justify why new republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov has devoted almost all of his attention to the economy rather than taking up the issues of greatest concern to the Ingush people – rectifying the borders with Chechnya and North Ossetia, releasing the political prisoners, and organizing elections for all senior positions in the republic.