Intermediate results of the development of the Far East were yesterday the topic of the “government hour” in the Federation Council. On the one hand, business activity in the macroregion is growing – investors are implementing 2.6 thousand projects, investing 2.2 trillion rubles in them. On the other hand, many systemic problems remain: almost all regions of the Far East are subsidized, infrastructure is still worn out, and the level of salaries in conditions of high prices and remoteness does not allow us to talk about the competitiveness of these territories.
The head of the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, Alexei Chekunkov, began his speech at the Federation Council with a positive note – with the growth of economic activity in the Far East. The number of investment projects in this macro-region of Russia has doubled over the past three years – with state support measures, 2.6 thousand projects are being implemented, of which 60 are valued at more than 10 billion rubles. each.
Let us explain that now there are two main preferential regimes in the Far East – territories of advanced development (TOR) and the free port of Vladivostok. Investors are provided, among other things, with tax incentives and simplified access to infrastructure. In the infrastructure area, it is planned to increase the volume of state support – if in 2015-2021 49 billion rubles were allocated for this, then another 79 billion rubles are planned for the next three years.
According to the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, under these regimes and with the involvement of state support measures, investors have invested 2.2 trillion rubles – 451 enterprises have been put into operation, 87 thousand jobs have been created.
At the same time, according to the minister, only a quarter of new investments fell on the extractive industries, and 75% of the funds were invested in deep processing, machine and shipbuilding, logistics, agriculture and tourism. The development of industries made it possible to recoup the funds invested by the state in the form of tax preferences and subsidies for infrastructure construction. As Aleksey Chekunkov noted, the volume of taxes from the constructed enterprises amounted to more than 165 billion rubles, and the final “profit” of the budget was 41 billion rubles.
However, Natalya Trunova, auditor of the Accounts Chamber, reminded the senators that preferential regimes are financed not only from the federal budget, but also from the regional budgets, so “their stable work is directly related to the financial opportunities” of the Far Eastern regions. According to her, only Sakhalin is not subsidized in the macroregion, in six regions the level of subsidies from the center exceeds 10% of their own income, and in Kamchatka – 50%.
In total, the regions of the Far East at the end of 2021 received 160 billion rubles. subsidies to equalize budgetary security.
At the same time, revenues from the ASEZ and the free port of Vladivostok for the entire period of their work brought 52 billion rubles to the regional budgets. In this regard, the state auditor believes, “one of the basic issues of improving the efficiency of these territories should be the issue of their effectiveness for the budgets of the regions.”
Aleksey Chekunkov also spoke about budgetary difficulties, albeit in a slightly different vein – “maximizing” support for the Far East, since the current level of its regions’ own tax revenues “does not allow full financing of all budget obligations.” For 2022, the share of the Far Eastern regions in the total volume of subsidies for equalizing budgetary security was almost 24%, he said. The minister views this problem as a challenge that, along with the accumulated dilapidation of the social infrastructure (for example, every fifth school needs repair), must be overcome in order to stop the outflow of the population from the Far East. Although this outflow has slowed down, it continues – over the past three years, 30 thousand people have left. Another challenge for the authorities is the level of salaries in the macroregion. In January-October 2021, in the Far East, the average salary was about 63 thousand rubles, while the difference between the regions is very significant – for example, in Buryatia, salaries are three times lower than in Sakhalin, and in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, which are considered production centers , the salary is equal to the average Russian (54.6 thousand rubles). “It is extremely difficult to talk about competitiveness, taking into account the price level in these regions and their remoteness in such a situation,” the state auditor concluded.