ABSTRACT
This chapter examines regional financial resilience in Russia in the period following the global financial crisis. The level of risk continued to rise for several years after the financial crisis struck in 2009, as government emergency finance fell rapidly; the result was that some regions raised loans to cover even operational expenses. Most 'resource' regions, however, rebounded rapidly, despite having been severely affected by the crisis, particularly in relation to its impact on the Corporate Income Tax (CIT), the main source of regional revenue. The chapter also examines the experience of one mineral resource-abundant region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO), the largest 'donor' to the federal budget. It assesses regional budget and debt management in response to pressures from the federal budget, the post-crisis withdrawal of subsidies, and the rolling out of new debt guidelines. The chapter describes and explains KhMAO's stability and relatively flexible planning as part of the fiscal federalist regime, which support competitive regions and cooperative bargaining.
