Municipal management of rural development: differentiating budget priorities and assessing socio-economic outcomes

The article examines the economic rationale for budget priorities in municipal management of rural development. It aims to develop an approach that aligns the reduction of basic infrastructure deficits, support for the local economy, and the financing of subsequent facility operation. The empirical base comprises Rosstat statistical publications. The methods include comparative, dynamic and structural analysis, symmetric factor decomposition, and organisational and economic modelling. In 2024, rural housing floor area per resident exceeded its urban counterpart by 8.3%. However, the calculated floor area simultaneously equipped with the set of amenities specified by Rosstat amounted to only 60.3% of the urban level. Changes in the share of equipped floor area arithmetically accounted for 61.9% of the increase in this rural indicator between 2020 and 2024. The analysis identifies divergent trends in the commissioning of social infrastructure and substantial differences in the municipal share of consolidated budget expenditure across five regions of Russia’s Central Black Earth area.