ASYMMETRY OF FINANCING OF LOCAL BUDGET EXPENDITURES ON SOCIAL PROTECTION AND SOCIAL SECURITY

Abstract

Budget financing of social protection and social security is one of the important factors of social development, which determines the standard of living and well-being of the poorest. The leading role of local budgets of Ukraine in the implementation of the social function of the state is determined by increasing the efficiency of the process of providing public services due to proximity to their immediate consumer. This process is based on the principle of subsidiarity, requires a sufficient level of financial security of local governments and demonstrates the basic idea of the concept of budget decentralization. The current practice of financing measures for social protection and social security of the population by local budgets of Ukraine is analyzed in the article in order to determine its effectiveness in conditions of limited budget resources of the state and the need to provide social guarantees for citizens. The grouping of EU member states according to the priority of expenditures on social protection of the population was conducted, a comparison with the corresponding indicators in Ukraine was made. The share of expenditures on social protection and social security of the consolidated budget in the GDP of Ukraine is calculated. The role of expenditures on social protection and social security in the expenditure part of local budgets of Ukraine is determined, their structure is considered. It is proved that the financing of social expenditures is chaotic; there are no steady trends in the dynamics of the share of individual components of social expenditures. In view of the reform of budget decentralization in Ukraine, the distinction between budget financing of social protection in the context of state and local budgets is studied. It is determined that the share of expenditures on social protection and social security in the structure of local budgets of Ukraine is high, however, in practice it does not always provide an adequate level of quality of social services to the population. The need to develop a comprehensive approach to reforming the budgetary mechanism for the implementation of the social function of the state on the principles of stability, transparency and balanced parity of interests of the state and society is substantiated.