Russian budget legislation imposes fairly strict restrictions on Federal subjects’ borrowing and increasing public debt. At the same time, even the existing potential for attracting borrowed resources, which could significantly expand the opportunities for implementing investment expenditures aimed at stimulating economic development, is used only to a small extent by the regions. Meanwhile, in international practice, borrowed funds are an important source of financing budget investments. It is particularly paradoxical that the most creditworthy regions of the Russian Federation are clearly underutilizing their ability to attract debt. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of public debt, the practice of budget planning and borrowing of a group of the most creditworthy subjects of the Federation in 2010-2019, the article considers the problematic aspects of existing approaches to the regulation of borrowing and debt, as well as possible ways to improve them.