NEW DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IN RUSSIAN ECONOMY

According to Rosstat growth of gross domestic product of Russia in 2014 was slowed down to 0,6 % from 1,3 % in 2013. Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation A.Ulyukayev during 2013-2014 called «a consumer demand along with an investment demand and export»  as drivers of growth of the Russian economy.  But, are they actual in new conditions of Russian development?

According to the report of the United Nations conference on trade and development (UNCTAD) direct foreign investments into Russia fell to 70 %, to $19 billion in 2014. authors of research called As the reasons of decrease investors interest to the country – sanctions against Russia and negative prospects of economy growth. Real disposable income decreased for 1,8 % in March 2015 in comparison with the same period of previous year, and decreased for 1,4 % in the first quarter of 2015. Dynamics of the foreign trade turnover and export also is not positive [3]. Thus, modern conditions of Russian economic policy realization demand new drivers of economic growth activation. According to the Finance Minister of Russia A.Siluyanova that «the private investor» as which institutional investors, and also small and medium business can act is necessary to restart economic growth to us [3]. According to the author, for involvement of private investors it is necessary to staticize state-private partnership forms (SPP).

An international practice of SPP shows that SPP-contracts  can be carried out not only for implementation of infrastructure projects as it occurs generally in Russia, but also in the most various branches, for example, transport, housing and communal services, ecology, real estate, public order and safety, telecommunications, financial sector, education. A large number of projects on the basis of SPP in the specified branches was complete and installed in Great Britain. The wide disseminating of the state and private business cooperation is observed in France, Germany, Spain and Hungary. Some projects of SPP are at a stage of planning in Poland and the Czech Republic [4].

We will analyze the Russian experience of SPP realization on the basis of Russian regions research on a level of SPP development which has been carried out by the Economic Development Ministry of the Russian Federation, the Center of state-private partnership development with support of Commerce and Industry Chamber of the Russian Federation for 2014-2015[5]. According to this data, experience with SPP projects is available in 68 subjects of the Russian Federation, but in 17 subjects of the Russian Federation such projects were not initiated at all. 48 % of projects are at an investment stage, 4 % of projects are just at a finishing stage and 16 % of projects are transferred in an operational stage. 50 % of projects belong to the municipal sphere, 73 % are realized in the concession agreement form.  The greatest number of municipal and power infrastructure projects is realized in settlements with population less than 5 thousand people. The majority of projects are construction (reconstruction) and operation of heat supply, water supply and water disposal object.  A lot of projects in the social sphere are realized in settlements with population more than 20 thousand people and the main field of their activity is a health care.

According to authors of research (and the author of article is agree with them), major factors of SPP development are institutional environment development, experience of SPP projects  implementation  and investment appeal of regions. Following the results of 2014 the average level of state-private partnership development in the Russian regions did not change in comparison with 2013 [5].

Russian leading regions on SPP development are St. Petersburg, the Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad area. Large concession projects in the transport sphere are realized in Moscow. In the Leningrad region implementation of projects in the health care and physical culture sphere is begun.  The Republic of Tatarstan realizes projects of the municipal sphere and in health care. The Kaluga region is carried to regions with the average level of SPP development, at these regions the average level of investment appeal, and the institutional environment is sufficient only for projects replication.

The institutional environment development estimate on the basis of existence and quality of the regional legislation in SPP sphere. The law of the subject of the Russian Federation participation in SPP is realized in 68 subjects of the Russian Federation, but according to the experts only in 4 regions (4,7 %) it is effectively. Effective regions are St. Petersburg, Tomsk region, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area and Sverdlovsk region. High quality is appropriated to the normative legal acts establishing an operating procedure with SPP projects just in 10 regions (11,76 %) (Republic of Bashkortostan, Belgorod region, Voronezh region, Leningrad region, Novgorod region, Rostov region, Samara region, St. Petersburg, Sakhalin region, Yaroslavl region).  The structures responsible for SPP development are created in 76 regions of Russia (89,4 %).  Thus experts estimate work only 12 of them on “well” and “perfectly”. That speaks about need of change of the Russian legislation for SPP sphere.

The subjects recognized as leaders on development of the institutional environment in the SPP sphere  is a Leningrad region, the Yaroslavl region, the Komi Republic, the Republic of Sakha. It is necessary to study experience of these regions for development actions for institutional environment improvement of the region in SPP sphere.  Lack of the necessary institutional environment negatively influences on prospects of investments attraction to SPP projects and doesn’t allow to build a uniform state policy of the subject on development of the SPP sphere.

Quality of SPP projects in the Russian regions characterizes that fact that every fifth concession competition prepared in Russia did not realize. This is a reason of poor quality of projects study and insufficient authorities activity at interaction with the private sector. Experience of start SPP projects in various branches of infrastructure is positively estimated in the Moscow, Novosibirsk area, the Republic of Tatarstan, subjects of the Far East federal district.

For SPP projects are characteristic  some typical mistakes [6]:

- there is no task or it does not correspond to requirements;

- requirements to participants of the competition are established not provided by the law on concessions;

- there is no description of a object condition or it does not correspond to requirements;

- the computing program by calculation of the discounted gross revenue is incorrectly used. This conducts to overestimate of the investment limiting volume ;

- competitive documentation doesn’t take place on the Internet;

- there are no separate essential conditions of the concession agreement;

- the concession agreement established obligations on granting a subsidy, at the same time, the size of subsidies in the agreement is not specified;

- conditions of the concession agreement join the prices, values, the parameters which are not relating to long-term, used for calculation of discounted revenue;

- the order of the concessionaire reimbursement at the moment of the agreement termination, is formally defined. This is a reason  of a non-return risk to the investor of invested funds or unreasonable budgetary expenses.

So the main idea is a need of training and teams formation on SPP projects implementation in each region.

The first steps on SPP legislation improvement are begun in Russia. The provisions in the «Law on concession agreements» providing possibility of the concession agreements conclusion at the initiative of private partners come into force since on May 1, 2015. Also the form of the proposal of the potential concessionaire about the conclusion of concession agreement is approved by the Government of the Russian Federation [7].

The federal law No. 388 «About industrial policy in the Russian Federation» which enters the new mechanism of state-private partnership – the special investment is accepted on December 31, 2014. Scope of the special investment contract is industrial production, and the purpose is a creation and modernization of industrial production [8]. As a result the state (Russian Federation) counts on:

-             increase in industrial output production which doesn’t have analogs, made in the territory of the Russian Federation;

-             industries development having priority value for social and economic development of the Russian Federation;
· introduction of the best available technologies in industrial output production;

-             creation and development of hi-tech production;

-             production localization in the territory of the Russian Federation in a certain volume;

-             creation of industrial infrastructure objects.

In this case the private investor can apply for some advantages:

1. privileges on taxes, collecting and privileges on customs payments;

2. privileges on payment of a rent for using the state or municipal property, including the land plots;

3. other privileges and the preferences established by operating at the moment of the contract conclusion by the legislation;

4. guarantees from adverse changes of the current legislation.
Russian Federation or subject of Russian Federation acts as the public partner in the special investment contract. An investor (the legal entity or the individual businessman) acts as the private partner. The special investment contract consists in the standard forms approved by the Government of the Russian Federation for separate industries. In this case the investment project has to correspond to one of the following requirements:

1. the investment project is included in the List of complex investment projects in the priority directions of the civil industry which is formed according to the Government Resolution of the Russian Federation from January 03, 2014 of No. 3;

2. the investment project is the investment project on creation of the new industrial enterprise and development at the created industrial enterprise of industrial output release;

3. the investment project is the investment project on modernization of the industrial enterprise and development at the modernized enterprise of industrial output release;

4. the investment project provides introduction of the best available technologies during implementation of  the measures plan on environmental protection or programs of ecological efficiency increase.

The main economic effects of the SPP agreement is receiving property in a state ownership, but the main economic effect for the state from the special investment contract is industrial production development on territories of the Russian Federation and, as a result, creation of the additional product, new workplaces and tax revenues.

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