The instability of the national economy is one of the topical problems studied by modern science, especially important in view of the current state of the Russian economy. The purpose of this study is to justify the possibility of using investment as the most important factor to minimize the consequences of instability in the economy. To achieve this goal, the article identifies the key areas of investment. There are the real sector of the national economy, transport infrastructure and human capital. The substantiation of these directions is correlated with the prospects of deepening the specialization of Russia as a resource-exporting state. At the same time, the task is to modernize domestic production by increasing the efficiency in the extractive industries, while expanding the range of consumers of their products and reducing the environmental burden. It will help to reduce the level of economic instability, and in the future - to go to sustainable economic growth in the interests of all economic entities. The study uses some theoretical and empirical methods, in particular, logical and system analysis, comparison, method of collecting empirical data, study and generalization, description and processing of research results. As a result of the study, it was found that today it is necessary to change the macroeconomic policy on the basis of the significance of investment and innovative projects. The solution of this problem will improve the productivity, as the most important indicator of the competitiveness of the national economy in the context of globalization. The article concludes that investments should be considered as an effective tool for weakening the economic instability and as an essential condition for meeting the growing economic interests of economic entities.