Regional Aspects of Implementing Financial Literacy Promotion Programs in the Russian Federation

Elizaveta Khudko – Senior Research fellow of the Center for Macroeconomics and Finance of the Gaidar Institute, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In recent years, the ever growing number of Russia’s regions have been involved in efforts to improve the financial literacy of the population. In order to analyze Russia’s experience in this field, the research was focused on the Russian Federation’s subjects with population in excess of 3 million, which were taking part in a joint undertaking of the RF Ministry of Finance and the World Bank titled The Financial Education and Financial Literacy Project, namely, the Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnodar Krai, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Rostov Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, and the City of Moscow.

A thorough analysis of the relevant normative acts and measures being implemented in the territory of these subjects of the Russian Federation made it possible for the researchers to draw a number of conclusions as to whether the issue of improving the financial literacy of the population was properly addressed at the regional legislative level, and whether the regional authorities were active enough in carrying out their own educational undertakings and in supporting federal initiatives in this field.

Key words: financial literacy, improving financial literacy, regional aspects of increasing financial literacy.

Import Substitution in Industry over the Period 2014–2017

Sergey Tsukhlo – Head of Business Surveys Department, Center for Real Sector of the Gaidar Institute, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As before, the main obstacle to successful import substitution is the absence, in RF territory, of the production of equipment, equipment components and raw materials needed by Russian enterprises. The second issue associated with problematic import substitution is the low quality of domestic products. These factors have remained practically unchanged since 2014, when surveys of Russian enterprises were demonstrating critical dependence of Russian industry on imports. An overwhelming majority of domestic enterprises have been forced to maintain the same share of imports in their purchases. In 2017, the ruble’s strengthening and industry’s successful adaptation to the 2015–2016 crisis resulted in a minimal reduction of the share of import substitution in purchases reported by enterprises over the three-year monitoring period.

Key words: Russian industry, import substitution, real import substitution, planned import substitution.

Socioeconomic Development and Budget Status of Russian Regions in 2017

Natalia Zubarevich – Main Research fellow of the Demography, Migration and Research Laboratory, Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Doctor of Geographic Sciences, Professor. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In 2017, Russia’s regions saw their socioeconomic status improve marginally over 2016. Industrial sectors continued to increase in most of the regions, as investment rose in half of the regions. The unemployment rate continued to be low. However, personal incomes and residential construction contracted in most of the regions. Concentration of investment in Moscow and in leading oil and gas producing regions, as well as the geopolitical priority of government investing in Crimea, contributed to further regional polarization. Regions’ budget revenues continued to trail further behind Moscow.

Key words: Russian regions, socio-economic situation of regions, regional budgets.

Analysis of Special Economic Zones Efficiency in Russian Federation

Vladimir Gromov – Senior Research fellow of Laboratory for Research on Tax Policy, Institute for Applied Economic Research, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Special Economic Zones are important mechanism of attracting investments to the regions and, by this reason, they are appropriate to solve many tasks of economic developments. However, in 2016 the total number of SEZ significantly decreased, and many territories with another special legal status have appeared for recent years. The article provides a complex overview of the present situation in the area of SEZ in Russia.

Key words: tax incentives, efficiency, special economic zones, industrial zones, innovation zones, tourist zones, port and logistic zones, resident of SEZ.

Mortality Rate in Russia: What Do the 2017 Data Mean?

Ramilya Khasanova – Research fellow of the Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In 2017, Russia saw natural decline in the population: within 11 months the number of deaths surpassed the number of births by 122,000 persons. The mortality rate is slowly going down. Blood circulatory system diseases are still the major cause of death in Russia. The analysis of the regional statistics on death causes identified the problem related to accuracy of the information received in a number of cases.

Key words: demographic indexes, natural population decline, mortality rate, mortality factors.

International Experience in Establishing Free-Trade Zones

Nadezhda Volovik – Head of Foreign Trade Department, Center for Real Sector of the Gaidar Institute. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The crisis phenomena existing in the global economy have given a strong impetus to the acceleration of integration processes, which has manifested itself most noticeably in the countries of eastern and south-eastern Asia. The paper under consideration offers a brief overview of the current agreements on the establishment of free-trade zones between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its external partners (ASEAN+1). Bearing in mind Russia’s interest in the promotion and expansion of integration processes, international experience in operating free-trade zones seems very useful for research and also practical uses.

Key words: free-trade zone, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Eurasian Economic Union.

Migration of Skilled Workers to Russia: Balance of Losses and Gains

Nikita Mkrtchyan – Leading Research fellow of the Demography, Migration and Research Laboratory, Institute of Social Analysis and Forecast, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Geographic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Yulia Florinskaya – Leading Research fellow of the Living Standard and Social Safety Net Research Laboratory, Institute of Social Analysis and Forecast, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Geographic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The share of persons with higher education in immigration flows and the temporary migration to the Russian Federation is currently lower than that in the emigration flow from Russia. However, in quantitative terms the annual number of intellectual emigrants is small. Migration of persons with higher education inside Russia is mainly directed to metropolitan regions; Moscow and St. Petersburg do not prepare as many experts as they receive from other regions of Russia.  

Key words: migration, intellectual migration, migration of persons with higher education, domestic migration of persons with higher education.

Effect of Anti-Sanctions: Modified Geography of the Imports and Traffic Flows

Svetlana Aksyuk – Research fellow of Laboratory for Infrastructure and Spatial Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tatyana Mikhailova – Senior Research fellow of Laboratory for Infrastructure and Spatial Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A substantial modification of Russia’s foreign trade on the back of introduction of a trade embargo (anti-sanctions) have spurred the imports of banned commodity groups to switch over from the EU near abroad countries to geographically distant countries.  A switchover of the EU imports from the banned commodities to other commodity groups was not virtually observed. Note that the geography of traffic flows of imports through the border of the Russian Federation was in direct correlation with the reduction of the total import volumes from bordering countries.

Key words: counter sanctions, imports, imports geography, geography of transportation flows, border crossing point.

Volume and Structure of the Russian Derivatives Market

Yury Danilov – Leading Research fellow of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The article considers generalizing characteristics of the volume and structure of the Russian derivatives market, as well as the trends of their changes. Despite the high growth rates of certain indicators of this market, it still remains insignificant on the scale of the Russian economy. The analyzed market has a number of structural problems, including low share of the option market, lack or insufficient development of a number of critical segments, which predetermines the limited possibilities of using this market as a hedging mechanism for risks of a different nature.

Key words: derivatives, volume of trade, open interest, exchange market, OTC market, hedging, repository, market volume, market structure.

Foreign Exchange Regulation Amendments

Antonina Levashenko – Senior Research fellow, Head of Russia-OECD Center, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alexandra Koval – Younger Research fellow, Director of «Russia-OECD club», Russian Foreign Trade Academy under the Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Exchange Regulation and Control, which on the one hand intend to remove restrictions preventing residents for foreign exchange purposes who stay abroad for lengthy periods from using foreign accounts and on the other hand to increase foreign exchange control requirements. Russia took extra measures late in the year to establish an automatic exchange of information in tax matters with the rest of the world.

Key words: currency regulation, currency control, legislative changes on currency regulation, currency residents.

Banking Sector in 2017: The Year’s Contradictory Results

Michael Khromov – Head of Department for Financial Studies of the Gaidar Institute; Senior Research fellow of the Center of Structural Research, Institute for Applied Economic Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Russian banking sector remains unstable. In 2017, renewal of growth in bank assets and individual segments of the lending market was accompanied by falling profits and large volumes of substandard assets being identified with large banks undergoing financial restructuring.

Key words: Russian banking sector, bank assets, bank profit, banks with revoked licenses, bank resolution.

Russia’s Balance of Payments in 2017

Alexandra Bozhechkova – Head of Monetary Policy Department of the Center for Macroeconomics and Finance of the Gaidar Institute; Senior Research fellow of the Institute for Applied Economic Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alexander Knobel – Head of Foreign Trade Department, Center for Real Sector of the Gaidar Institute; Director of the Center for Foreign Trade Department, Institute for Applied Economic Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pavel Trunin – Head of Center for Macroeconomics and Finance of the Gaidar Institute; Leading Research fellow of the Center for the Study of Central Banks, Institute for Applied Economic Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Russia’s positive balance of trade increased in 2017, ensuring a steady BoP position. The private sector saw capital outflow in 2017, mostly because Russian banks had trimmed foreign-exchange liabilities. The rouble appreciated on the back of stable balance of payments.

Key words: balance of payments, current account, trade surplus, capital outflow, capital inflow and exchange rate.

Survey of Current Business (November 2017 – February 2018)

Sergey Aukutsionek – Head of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andrey Yegorov – Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Yury Glushko – Senior Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tatyana Serzhantova – Senior Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In November 2017, the most notable changes occurred with output characteristics: the diffusion index decreased by 12 percentage points. However, this can be called a correction after a fairly high value of this indicator, obtained last month. After a serious rise in September 2017, the level of corporate debt to banks continues to fall the second month in a row (-12 points over the past month). By 11 percentage points declined the share of enterprises that does not have debts to banks and not expected to have in the next three months.

Key words: industry, industrial enterprises, price level, wages, employment, output, investment, indebtedness to banks, order-book level, stocks of finished products, capacity utilization rate, risk of bankruptcy, economic policy, crisis duration.

Russia’s Economic Growth Characteristics in 2017–2018: Incentives and Constraint

Sergey Drobyshevsky – Scientific Director of the Gaidar Institute, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sergey Sinelnikov-Murylev – Academic Director of the Gaidar Institute; Pro-rector of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Rector of the Russian Foreign Trade Academy under the Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2017 year-end positive results, particularly real GDP growth recovery, fixed investment growth, reflected largely the termination of the cyclical downswing phase for the Russian economy. However, structural and external factors in 2018 will not be able to shore up economic growth. To ensure a sustainable economic growth, a new government should be focused more on structural reforms including a fiscal manoeuvre, denationalization of the economy and deregulation of foreign economic activities.

Key words: Russian economy, economic growth, forecast for 2018.