Showing the bar: how the top 35 economically strong regions have changed

Moscow, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as Moscow Region, topped the top-35 regions in terms of economic development potential at the end of the third quarter. These are the results of the ForRGO survey based on the data of the Federal Tax Service and Rosstat. Earlier, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug was third, and Moscow Region was not in the top three. The change of positions was influenced by the amount of VAT paid, wages and profits of enterprises.

Regions with the highest economic potential

According to the results of Q3, Moscow retained its position of the leading region with the highest economic potential in Russia. The capital is catching up with the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, which shared the second place by this indicator. They are followed by the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Tatarstan, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Irkutsk Regions and Perm Territory.

These are the results of the research of the Civil Society Development Foundation "Index of Economic Potential of Russian Regions. Top-35" following the results of the third quarter on the basis of data from the Federal Tax Service and Rosstat. As the authors explain in the document, their goal was to assess the efficiency of the real sector of the regions' economy, which ensures the well-being of the population of the territories.

The study understands economic potential as the level of development of the real sector of the economy. It is determined by the authors according to three criteria: the amount of VAT actually paid to the budget, the level of average monthly wages in the region and the total profit of enterprises and organizations in the region.

Krasnodar Krai, Samara and Chelyabinsk Regions, Primorsky Krai, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Tula, Belgorod, Vologda and Orenburg Regions were in the second ten.

The third ten of the rating were headed by Komi, Udmurtia, Bashkiria, Kaliningrad, Tomsk, Leningrad, Sakhalin, Kaluga Oblasts, Omsk Oblast and Yakutia (29th place), Voronezh and Yaroslavl Oblasts (30th place).

The Rostov Region, the Vladimir and Magadan Regions (32nd place), the Ryazan Region, the Khabarovsk Territory and the Kursk Region close the survey.

- Moscow has been confidently retaining the first place in terms of economic potential for several years in a row with the highest average ranking in two of the three criteria - VAT payment and profit, yielding the lead in terms of average monthly wages only to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug," explained Konstantin Kostin, head of FORGO, to Izvestia.

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According to him, the Moscow Region and St. Petersburg, which are right behind the top three, have good dynamics of indicators.

- The Moscow region has the second place in the amount of VAT paid to the budget, the third place in the financial results of enterprises and organizations, but only 12th in average monthly wages. St. Petersburg from the 26th place in the first quarter, where it was due to the loss of enterprises and organizations, on the aggregate of indicators rose to the fourth, - said Konstantin Kostin.

He also pointed out that the Leningrad region has risen to the 26th place from the 33rd position in the first quarter and 31st in the first half of the year according to a set of criteria. And Kursk region, according to him, according to the totality of criteria entered the top-35, moving from 37th to 35th position. Also, according to the study, the Sakhalin Region showed a good growth (from 52nd to 27th place) due to the size of the average monthly salary and financial results of enterprises.

"Izvestia" sent inquiries to the subjects with a request to comment on their positions in the study.

Why do regions increase their economic potential?

The key thing for each subject that seeks to increase its economic potential is the characteristic of agglomeration (resources, compactness of location, etc.), the work of local officials with business, lobbying opportunities for relations with major federal authorities, attractiveness for large companies and SMEs, Konstantin Kalachev, head of the Political Expert Group, explained to Izvestia.

In his opinion, the places of the subjects in the rating are quite logical.

- The capital as a center of attraction of human and financial resources is deservedly in first place," the expert believes, noting that the Moscow agglomeration is the largest in Europe.

It is three times larger in terms of population than the second largest Russian agglomeration - St. Petersburg agglomeration, explained Konstantin Kalachev.

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Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Conjunctural Research of the Institute of Economic Research of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, agrees with the results of the study.

- It is difficult to disagree with the results of the study. As a rule, all the regions in the top ten are raw or semi-raw subjects, with the exception of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region. But they all have common features: their enterprises create more added value, and therefore their wages and VAT are higher," he explained to Izvestia.

At the same time, the economist noted that most of the subjects are stable in high places, moving up one or two positions, and this, according to him, is sad, as it shows the lack of economic development of other subjects.