Penza, 16 February 2018. PenzaNews. Such regions as the Penza region are unable to meet their social obligations to people without subsidies. Such an opinion was expressed by the governor Ivan Belozertsev at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi.

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"As a governor of a subsidized region I thank the government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Nikolaevich Kozak for introduction of a model budget for regions. This innovation helped us to get rid of many problems we had to face," he said giving a speech at the meeting of chairman of the Russian government Dmitry Medvedev with heads of the regions on Friday, February 16.

Ivan Belozertsev added that many constituent entities of the Russian Federation cannot meet obligations in full due to a lack of funds.

Speaking about the introduction of the model budget the governor drew attention to the fact that each region has to develop in different conditions – some of them have rich natural resources, while others have "neither oil nor gas but only good people".

"The third model is more appropriate in this case for the Penza region. If the third model is not adopted, then the second one [...] will also be acceptable," Ivan Belozertsev explained.

He also agreed with the opinion of a number of his colleagues claiming that the third model will stimulate the activity of heads of the regions.

"There is not a single governor who does not work. We work, [...] invest, are in the vice and think actively on what can be done to attract investors," Ivan Belozertsev emphasized.

Summing up what he said he noted that the situation in the Penza region is similar to those in other subsidized regions.

"Since January 1, 2018, social expenses have increased. They increased drastically and without subsidies to balance fiscal capacity we – such a region as the Penza region – certainly cannot meet our obligations. For this reason I support the model budget and the third option in its development," the governor summed up.

Russian Investment Forum was held in Sochi on February 15-16 and featured Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev.

It is a traditional platform for presentation of investment and economic potential of the country.

In 2017, 377 agreements worth 490 billion roubles were concluded at the forum.