Evaluation of Russian Foreign Trade Activities from 2000 to 2013

Abstract

The current state of Russian economy determines the necessity of evaluation of foreign trade policy, which is a crucial component of industrial regulation. This formed the purpose of the research – the identifying of the opportunities for intensification of Russia’s participation in the regional integration process through a comparative analysis of the development of the foreign trade relations of the Russian regions in the period from 2000 to the present time. Analysis of interregional cooperation of Russian regions showed that there is a trade deficit in most regions. In most regions there is а focus on the export of resources and irrational structure of imports, which promotes the preservation of the inertial scenario of expansion of foreign economic activity of the regions and the country as a whole. The growth of exports is implementedat higher ratescompared to the growth of imports. Consequently, Russian foreign trade, which had a stable export orientation previously, has become even more export-oriented. Russian Federation despite the status of a major industrial power has actually become a mono-cultural exporter. With such high concentration of exports in a small group of commodities and materials to Russia the scope of maneuver into the foreign economic relations significantly narrows and its vulnerability against the negative changes in the world conjuncture greatly increases. In addition, high deterioration of external conjuncture of the energy export was a cause of a number of serious systemic risks for domestic economy and finally may be a cause of deep economic crisis.