The role of investment projects in ensuring the economic security of regions

Dragunova Anastasiya Evgenievna Student, Department of Economic Security and Taxation, Southwestern State University 94, 50 Let Oktyabrya str., Kursk, 305040, Russia dragunova.anastasiya@rambler.ru

Belousova Svetlana Nikolaevna PhD in Economics Associate Professor, Department of Economic Security and Taxation, Southwestern State University 94, 50 Let Oktyabrya str., Kursk, 305040, Russia bsn275@mail.ru

Introduction

In modern conditions, for the balanced development of the economy, it is necessary to consider a set of interrelated factors: political, social, innovative, investment and others. Due to the multitude of tasks facing the state, there is a need to attract investors to implement infrastructure projects and create favorable living conditions for the population. Such projects have a positive economic effect and have a positive impact on the development of society both in the places where they are implemented and across the country as a whole ^[1-2].

Investments are one of the main characteristics of the state's activities and make it possible to solve existing economic or social problems, including those that can be aimed at achieving national interests, thereby ensuring stable economic security of the country. The topic of investments as one of the components of economic security is considered in the works of scientists and practitioners ^[3-5].  The achievement of the national development goals of the Russian Federation is possible thanks to the joint efforts of the state, business and society in the implementation of investment projects that have a positive impact on various spheres of citizens' lives. Therefore, in order to support investment activity, various federal projects and complexes of process measures are being implemented ^[6-8].

Let's take a closer look at the state program of the Russian Federation "Economic development and innovative Economy", the execution of which is entrusted to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the implementation period 2013-2030.

The State program "Economic Development and Innovative Economy" is aimed at achieving the following goals:

- launching a new investment cycle and improving the business climate;

- acceleration of technological development of the economy;

- an increase in the number of people employed in the field of small and medium-sized enterprises, including individual entrepreneurs and the self-employed;

- improving the efficiency of public administration ^[9].

Directions (subprograms) of the state program "Economic development and innovative Economy" ^[10]:

1) stimulating the implementation of investment projects - the implementation of measures related to the comprehensive support of investment projects and their support, ensuring the formation and implementation of a federal targeted investment program;

2) labor productivity - implementation of the activities of the national project "Labor Productivity";

3) business activity - the implementation of measures related to the improvement of control and licensing activities, organizational support for activities to increase investment attractiveness, tariff and antimonopoly regulation of competition;

4) increasing the potential of regional economies - the implementation of structural elements related to the development of the subjects of the Russian Federation and individual territories, as well as special economic zones and territories of advanced socio-economic development;

5) development of foreign economic activity - implementation of measures to develop international cooperation and exports, as well as to ensure international economic cooperation;

6) support for innovative companies - implementation of measures to stimulate innovation, ensure legal protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights;

7) the climate agenda - the implementation of measures to create and develop a tool for "green" financing, the formation of a system for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and the implementation of climate projects;

8) development of small and medium-sized enterprises - implementation of the activities of the national project "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative";

9) development of public administration - implementation of measures to develop and implement the principles and standards of client-centricity in the activities of public authorities, improve the quality of public and municipal services, and train personnel;

10) strategic planning and official statistics - implementation of measures to ensure strategic planning and forecasting of economic development, development of the information support system for state statistics.

Materials and methods

Based on the data presented on the websites of the Federal State Statistics Service, the Portal of State Programs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, an assessment of the implementation of the state program "Economic development and innovative Economy" was carried out. The article uses a set of methods of economic research.

Results and their discussion

State programs are elements of the strategic planning system, which aim to achieve national objectives and long-term priorities of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the state is faced with the task of allocating the necessary funding for their implementation. Table 1 shows data on the amount of financial support for the state program "Economic Development and Innovative Economy", including for the federal project "Integrated Support for Investment Projects", which has been in effect since 2022.

Table 1 - Structure of the volume of financial support for the state program "Economic development and innovative economy" by year of implementation

Source: compiled by the authors on the basis of data ^[11].

Analyzing the data in table 1, we see that by 2025, the volume of financing for the state program "Economic development and Innovative Economy" is projected to decrease by almost half, while it should be noted that a significant share in the financial support of the program is occupied by extra-budgetary sources. We also observe that the share of financial support for the federal project "Integrated support for investment projects" in the total financing of the state program is less than 1%, this is a negative factor, since state support for investment projects plays an important role in the socio-economic development of both individual subjects of the Russian Federation and the country as a whole.

We found out that investments play an important role in the economic development of both the country as a whole and individual regions, since they allow us to improve existing and create new infrastructure and business facilities, and can also be aimed at solving other socio-economic problems. Therefore, in order to achieve the level of the index of investments in fixed assets established in the state program "Economic development and innovative Economy", it is necessary to consider the investment situation that is developing in the regions of the Russian Federation. Table 2 shows data on the leading subjects for this indicator.

Table 2 - The subjects of the Russian Federation, the leaders in investments in fixed assets, billion rubles.

Source: compiled by the authors on the basis of data ^[12].

Having considered the data in Table 2, we observe that the leaders in fixed capital investments have hardly changed during 2020-2022. The leading positions are occupied by territories with developed economies or regions leading the sector of the raw materials industry.

The list is headed by Moscow, where investments increased by 2078.6 billion rubles. or by 54.14% over the period under review. In 2022, the Moscow Region took the 4th place, losing to the largest mining regions: Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs. A significant increase in the indicator occurred in Yakutia by 137.86% due to investment projects implemented by coal mining companies, and in the Irkutsk region by 113.77%, which, in turn, was influenced by the construction of a gas chemical complex, an aluminum plant and a mining and processing plant in the region. It should also be noted that in all the analyzed subjects of the Russian Federation, there is a constant increase in investments.

The possibility of attracting investments to the region and their volume largely depend on the level of investment attractiveness of the subject of the Russian Federation, which is the main parameter determining the opportunities and prospects for the development of this subject. Increasing investment attractiveness is a task that is set before public authorities and includes not only active activities to attract new investors, but also support for existing businesses in the region ^{[13, pp. 3-4]}.

The analysis of investment attractiveness is carried out by the National Rating Agency, which defines this indicator as a set of factors affecting the expediency, effectiveness and risk level of investments in the region. These factors have an impact on the risk and profitability of investment projects. The indicator is assessed according to a special scale, which is divided into three large categories (regions with high, medium and moderate levels of investment attractiveness), within each of which three levels are distinguished.

Table 3 shows the subjects of the Russian Federation classified as "regions with a high level of investment attractiveness".

Table 3 - Rating of investment attractiveness of Russian regions in 2022

Source: compiled by the authors based on data ^[14].

Analyzing the data in Table 3, it can be noted that in 2022, most regions of Russia managed to maintain their positions in terms of investment attractiveness.  Moscow remains the absolute leader (IC1 group, the first level of "high" investment attractiveness). The Kursk region should be highlighted in the rating, which in 2022 increased its level of investment attractiveness and moved from the group of regions with an "average" indicator level to subjects with "high" investment attractiveness (IC3 group). This was due to positive changes in the institutional environment and infrastructure development.

A study conducted by the National Rating Agency revealed that in 2022, only 16 regions remain in groups with a "moderate" level of investment attractiveness (there were 18 such regions in the previous year).

The intensification of investment activity in the Kursk region is one of the priority areas for the development of the region, and therefore is reflected in a number of fundamental strategic documents. One of which is the Investment Strategy of the Kursk Region until 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the Strategy), which was developed in 2014 in accordance with the Concept of Long-term Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020, the Strategy of Socio-economic Development of the Kursk Region until 2020 and took into account the requirements of the Standard of the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation to ensure a favorable investment climate in the region, approved by the decision of the Supervisory Board of the autonomous non-profit organization Agency for Strategic Initiatives for the Promotion of New Projects dated May 3, 2012

The strategy was approved on December 2, 2014. Every year it is updated, an action plan is formed to implement the provisions specified in the Strategy, and the list of investment projects is updated. In 2020, the Strategy was revised in accordance with the Strategy of Socio-economic Development of the Kursk region until 2030, adopted in 2020.

In this document, the investment attractiveness of the region is considered as a combination of two interrelated elements: investment risk and investment potential.

In 2019, investment risks decreased in the Kursk Region compared to previous years, and in this regard, the region managed to enter the top 10 least risky regions, ranking 9th among all subjects of the Russian Federation by this indicator. Considering the investment potential of the Kursk region, it can be concluded that in recent years this indicator has been in the average values (37th place among the subjects of the Russian Federation) ^[15].

Thus, we observe that active work is underway in the region to strengthen the competitive position of the Kursk region, maintain and improve its position in the investment attractiveness rating, as well as eliminate existing risks. Let's consider the indicators of investment activity in the subject (Table 4).

Table 4 - Main indicators of investment activity in the Kursk region

Source: compiled on the basis of data ^[15].

Based on the data in table 4, we see that in 2021, compared with 2019, there was an increase in fixed capital investments in the Kursk region by 50.7 billion rubles. or by 35.53%, in turn, investments per capita also increased. If we analyze the growth rate of investments in fixed assets compared to the previous period, we can see that a decrease in investment is observed in the pandemic year, in 2021 the indicator is gaining momentum again.

The growth of indicators can be explained by the favorable investment climate created in the region. The legislation of the Kursk region provides the following benefits for investors ^[16]:

- creation of the most favored nation regime;

- provision of tax benefits that are not of an individual nature;

- establishment of a reduced corporate income tax rate for certain categories of taxpayers to be credited to the regional budget;

- provision of investment tax credits;

- provision of an investment tax deduction for corporate income tax in the Kursk region;

- provision of a land plot owned by the Kursk region or municipal property for lease to legal entities without bidding;

- provision of state guarantees on a competitive basis for investment projects in accordance with the list of state guarantees to be provided, approved by the law of the Kursk Region on the regional budget for the relevant financial year and planning period;

- implementation of competitive selection of the most effective investment projects;

- issuance of bonded loans of the region, guaranteed target loans;

- provision of funds from the Investment Fund of the Kursk region in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Kursk region, etc.

The Government of the Kursk Region focuses on the livestock and crop production sector. Thanks to the state support of the industry, major investment projects for the modernization and new construction of livestock complexes are being implemented in the region as part of the implementation of the national project "Development of agriculture" and the state program for the development of agriculture. Let's look at some of them.

1. Construction of an oil extraction plant. In 2018, the Sodruzhestvo Group of Companies decided to invest in a project to build a sunflower and soybean seed processing plant in the Kursk region. The implementation of the project began in 2019, investments amounted to more than 38 billion rubles. As a result, 753 new jobs were created. The project is designed for a capacity of up to 2 million tons per year. In 2022, the facility was put into operation. In the spring of 2023, it was planned to launch the plant at full capacity.

2. Development of the livestock cluster. The Agropromkomplektatsiya Group of Companies has been operating in the Kursk region since 2007. The largest object of the company was the Kursk meat processing plant in the village of Linets, Zheleznogorsk district, which began operating in 2016: about 8 billion rubles were invested in it. About 2.5 thousand jobs were created there; the products of this enterprise were also exported. During 2021-2022, a project for the reconstruction and modernization of the plant was implemented with an investment volume of more than 2.5 billion rubles.

It is planned to build a meat processing plant in Konyshevsky district for 4.3 billion rubles by the first half of 2024. About 370 jobs should be created at the plant.

3. Development of the pig breeding cluster. Miratorg Agro-industrial Holding planned the construction of a large-scale vertically integrated pig breeding division in the Kursk region, with an investment volume of 160 billion rubles. Subsequently, the project underwent many changes.

In the autumn of 2017, the holding began implementing a large-scale project to build a meat and meat factory worth 85 billion rubles. In parallel, Miratorg built a pig rearing and fattening zone with a capacity of 6.6 thousand tons of meat in live weight per year in the Pristensky district for 530 million rubles. Since the implementation of the projects, the agroholding has invested over 25 billion rubles in the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Kursk region and created more than 3 thousand new jobs. In 2020, the 1st stage of the project was launched - deep thermal processing of meat with a production capacity of 137.7 thousand tons of finished products per year, in 2021 a complex for slaughtering and processing meat was put into operation.

The agroholding plans to continue developing the agro-industrial sector of the region, investing about 117 billion rubles by the end of 2023, which will make the Kursk region a leader among the regions of the Russian Federation in pork production, create about 10 thousand new jobs and provide about 7.5 billion tax revenues to budgets of all levels after production reaches full capacity ^[15].

In the future, work in the food sector in the region will continue to attract investments to create highly efficient industries, ensuring maximum processing of agricultural products within the region ^[17].

We see that investments play an important role in ensuring economic security, which is why special attention is paid to them in the Kursk Region and other regions of the Russian Federation. This is evidenced by the positive dynamics of investments in fixed assets at the end of last year in 48 regions of Russia.

It is predicted that the growth of investment activity will gradually slow down both in regions with high and low investment attractiveness. In terms of industries, those from which foreign competitors have left look promising, including the IT sector (Moscow, Moscow Region, Tatarstan), the automotive industry (Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk regions), textile production (Moscow, Ivanovo regions, St. Petersburg). There are also good forecasts for agriculture (Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, Rostov and Voronezh region), tourism (Krasnodar Territory, St. Petersburg) and the transport and logistics complex. Metallurgical, oil and gas, and export-oriented regions are at risk.

However, there are still factors hindering the development of investment activities. These include the following:

1) development institutions such as JSC "Russian Export Center", the Industrial Development Fund, JSC "SME Corporation", etc., are focused mainly on large-scale investment projects. Smaller projects are supported only through special preferential regimes that give investors a number of legal, tax, customs and other preferences, subsidies and benefits, for example, special economic zones, territories of advanced development, etc.;

2) weak legal support for investments and the lack of elaboration of the system of guarantees and returns. Persons who have invested their own funds in an investment project or an existing facility may face imperfection of legislation in the investment sphere, which is characterized by an uncertain legal status of the investor, lack of legal sources regulating investment activities, difficulty in insurance, state registration and accreditation, the presence of regulations restricting freedom of activity in the industry of interest to investors, etc.;

3) selection of the most worthy, promising projects applying for government support. The problem is that it is not always possible to accurately determine whether an investment project needs state financing. Specialists involved in the analysis and selection of projects are often faced with artificially underestimating the financial performance of projects or overestimating costs, which leads to a deterioration of key project metrics.

Conclusions

The implementation of investment projects plays an important role in ensuring the economic security of the country, as it allows improving the well-being of the population, developing infrastructure, updating technologies and improving the professional qualities of employees. 

The activities carried out in the Kursk region related to the intensification of investment activities in the region are yielding results, as evidenced by the improvement of the Kursk region's position in the investment attractiveness rating, reducing investment risks, as well as maintaining the level of investment potential.

Due to the introduction of restrictive sanctions measures against the Russian Federation by a number of countries in 2022-2023, the volume of state support for investment projects has been significantly increased. However, it should be noted that there is still a possibility of using ineffective tools for selecting promising investment projects and companies applying for support.