Comprehensive assessment of the development prospects of Russian regions (using the example of the Altai Territory)

Abstract

The current geopolitical situation requires more attention to the development of Russian regions due to the need to develop new sales markets, as well as the urgent need to diversify Russian exports and increase the share of finished products. The purpose of the presented study is to test the author’s methodology for an integrated approach to assessing the prospects for the development of Russian regions, which was originally created to assess the prospects of modern trade unions. The empirical basis of the practical part of the study was the data of the analysis of general and particular indicators of the development of the Altai Territory. In the course of the study, the high efficiency of the development of the Altai Territory was revealed, which is confirmed by the growth of most general and particular indicators that make it possible to most fully describe the socio-economic component of the development of this region. During the study period (from 2015 to 2021), the foreign trade turnover of the Altai Territory increased from 927.8 to 1828.90 million US dollars, respectively. In turn, net exports showed mixed dynamics with a 9.9 % drop in 2016 due to lower prices for hydrocarbon energy carriers and a signifi cant drop in 2020 (29.4 %) due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It should be noted that, in addition to other foreign trade indicators, we analyzed the export-import coverage ratio, which shows how many times the region’s exports exceed its imports. Based on the results of the analysis, it was revealed that the export-to-import coverage ratio had multidirectional dynamics. So, in the period from 2015 to 2017, there was a drop in the designated indicator from 250 to 199 %, then in 2019 this indicator in the Altai Territory reached its maximum value of 229.71. Then, by 2021, there was a sharp decrease in the value of this indicator to the level of 168.61 %, which indicates the preservation of a positive trade balance throughout the entire study period.