The Role of Digitalization of the Payment Infrastructure in Ensuring the Economic Security of the State Under the Conditions of Social and Political Shocks

Abstract

The article attempts to justify the importance of ensuring the stable development of the payment infrastructure in crisis conditions, which are formed by unpredictable and turbulent processes in the development of the financial system. It was determined that in the modern conditions of active digitization of the activities of financial institutions, their leading role in making settlements between economic entities, the emergence of destructive processes in the functioning of these institutions may have a negative impact on the functioning of the national economy, the state of its economic security, especially as a result of complex political and social events in the country. During the research, a range of general and special research methods were used, among which content analysis, statistical methods, and methods of generalization and abstraction played an important role. The article describes the theoretical provisions of the influence of the payment infrastructure on the state of economic security of the country, substantiates the main transformational processes that are taking place with such infrastructure today as a result of the development of information and communication technologies. To confirm the formulated theoretical provisions, the case of Ukraine was considered as a country that periodically finds itself in difficult sociopolitical conditions of its own functioning, and today the war with the Russian Federation has already led to colossal economic losses and a significant decrease in the level of economic security. In this way, the macroeconomic development of Ukraine during 2010-2022 was analyzed. Important attention is focused on the analysis of the state of the payment infrastructure in the country, how its development changed during the outlined period, and what transformations took place in its functioning since the beginning of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. The results of the study made it possible to confirm the assumption about the important role of the payment infrastructure in ensuring the economic security of the country and the importance of ensuring the stable functioning of such infrastructure even in difficult political, social and economic conditions. It was also established that in the era of the development of the digital economy, it is the payment infrastructure that can minimize the destructive consequences of turbulent economic processes and ensure the availability of financial services.