SEZs continue to show steady positive dynamics
Vitaly Altabaev, Director of the Department of Regional Development of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, spoke about the results of the activities of special economic zones and the assessment of their effectiveness as part of the presentation of the VII National Rating of Special Economic Zones together with the Association of Clusters, Technoparks and SEZS of Russia (AСTP RF).
"We extend all state support measures to the SEZ mechanism. We will provide special support to the initiatives of the formation of tourist clusters in the SEZ, we will support them through the national tourism project. We are actively working with the regions to ensure that all possibilities are used for infrastructure development, including the restructuring of budget loans, infrastructure budget loans and special treasury loans. Recently, a simplified transition to tax monitoring has been introduced, which allows for digitalization of accounting, online support by the tax service and double-accelerated VAT refund," Vitaly Altabaev noted.
According to him, the SEZs continue to show steady positive dynamics. This year, the SEZ mechanism turned 18 years old. In 2023 alone, 177 new residents came to the SEZ, an absolute record for all years - this is 36 more than in 2022 and 20 more than in 2021. This year, the annual figures of private investment doubled – 339 billion rubles in the 3rd quarter, when it was 197 billion rubles for the whole of last year, and 150 billion rubles in 2021. At the moment, over 1 trillion rubles of private investments have been made, and at least 5 trillion rubles more are planned. More than 66 thousand jobs have been created in the SEZ. The multiplier contribution of the SEZ to GDP over the past year is estimated at 888 billion rubles. It is important that by the end of 2022, the state has recouped all the costs incurred for the SEZ and today the accumulated positive effect on the budget is estimated at more than 55 billion rubles.
He also said that in August, at the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the parliament introduced a set of amendments to the SEZ Law. "We are optimizing the management system, accelerating the acquisition of resident status, expanding the stabilization clause – now it is not only taxes, but also regulations. We increase the responsibility of the business for the real achievement of the stated plans. The possibility of unilateral termination and purchase of land was introduced only after fulfilling the terms of the investment agreement. For the first time, we compensated the regions for infrastructure costs. We urge all regions to participate more actively," Vitaly Altabaev emphasized.
In 2023, the investment attractiveness rating included 32 SEZs from 26 regions of Russia. For the first time, 4 special economic zones were included in the rating – "Stabna" of the Smolensk region, "Ivanovo", "Orenburg Region" and "Novgorod".
"Indeed, our rating has expanded this year. And new special economic zones, and new regions: Smolensk, Ivanovo, Orenburg and Novgorod regions, which indicates its demand not only among investors, but also SEZ," commented Mikhail Labudin, Director of the ACTP RF. – The methodology developed by the Association's experts with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation includes 7 blocks consisting of 33 private indicators that fully assess the implementation of projects in territories with preferential treatment. Over the 7 years of the rating, we can note the dynamics in terms of the promptness of the CC's response to investors from 8 days to 24 hours. It is also important to emphasize the dynamics of indicators on global economic challenges – the availability of non-financial reporting of the SEZ, a strategy for digital transformation of the infrastructure site and an agreement on the implementation of activities in the industrial cluster."
Technopolis Moscow (1st place), Dubna of the Moscow region (2nd place) and Innopolis of the Republic of Tatarstan (3rd place) became the leaders of the SEZ of the technical and innovative type. Among the industrial-production SEZs are Alabuga of the Republic of Tatarstan (1st place), Lipetsk (2nd place) and Ulyanovsk (3rd place). The most dynamically developing SEZ is Kaluga, growing by 5 positions in 2023. The best SEZ in the category "Investment activity of SEZ residents" is Stupino Kvadrat.
The best SEZ in the "Import Substitution" category is "Alga" of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the best indicator among the regions in terms of the number of industrial clusters.
"The creation of special economic zones solves one of the main tasks of the state – attracting investments and creating new jobs. Well-maintained infrastructure, a comfortable public environment, minimization of administrative barriers, state support measures, the possibility of recruiting scarce personnel, all these are key factors attracting investors to the Technopolis Moscow SEZ. The volume of investments made in the special economic zone of the capital in 2022 amounted to about 32 billion rubles – this is one of the leading positions in this indicator among the country's SEZS. The SEZ of the capital considers its mission to ensure the growth of Moscow's industry and active assistance in achieving technological sovereignty," said Gennady Degtev, General Director of the SEZ Technopolis Moscow.