BUDGET INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE: PRIORITIES AND TRENDS

The article investigates the priorities of budget investment and trends in the distribution of capital expenditures among the budgetary system levels in Ukraine during 2010–2019 period. It has been established that capital expenditures of budgets in Ukraine cannot be equated with capital investments from the budget, since they contain articles that are inconsistent with the classical understanding of investments. But the analysis of their dynamics and structure makes it possible to identify the priorities of budget investment and the distribution of budget investment among the budget system levels. It has been established that since 2015 in Ukraine there has been an increase in the share of capital expenditures of the consolidated budget in the total expenditures of the consolidated budget at the expense of local budgets, which are a consequence of an increase in the local budgets resource base in relation to the decentralization reform. A positive trend of growth in the percentage of capital expenditures fulfillment of both state and local budgets was revealed. Also, since 2015, a change in the ratio of capital expenditures among the levels of the budget system in the direction of the prevalence of local budgets and a change in the structure of capital expenditures of the state and local budgets has been revealed: in the state budget, capital transfers to enterprises that are a form of support for certain sectors of the economy are decreasing, but in local budgets they are growing. Thus, the economic function of the state to support individual sectors of the economy is delegated to local budgets. It also revealed a change in priorities in the structure of financing public investment projects from the state budget of Ukraine during 2019–2020 from social development projects to transport infrastructure development projects (70% of funding). It has been established that capital investments from budgets of all levels are not aimed at multiplying budget investments; therefore, an increase in budget capital expenditures does not guarantee the acceleration of the state economic development. The improvement of the investment activities state management system should be realized in the direction of formation and budgetary financing the investment projects that will contribute to the introduction of new technologies, the creation of new jobs and the investment attractiveness of the country.