The Russian Far East: Post-Crisis Dynamics of Social-Economic Development

Abstract

The authors review trends of economic development of the Russian Far East during 2010-2017, study the response of the national and regional economies to the crisis of 2014, and analyze the conditions and problems that exist in the main sectors of the region's economy. We demonstrate that there were no significant structural changes in the Far East's economy and industrial potential remains the region's chief strategic resource. We note that growth stability in the mining sector almost entirely depends on foreign demand and exchange rate stability, while processing industries depend heavily on domestic Russian demand, which has been degrading recently in its private component while public demand has been mostly stable. We show that remaining complications in access to foreign sources of capital and technologies make uncertain the future growth of the region's economy as a whole.