STEPAN ZEMTZOV ON TRENDS IN SME DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIAN REGIONS DURING THE CORONACRISIS

The“Russia’s Economic Development”magazine has published an article by Stepan Zemtzov, Senior Researcher of the Innovation-Driven Economy Department, Gaidar Institute, dealing with the trends and factors of SME development in Russian regions during the pandemic.

In 2020, the SME sector was badly hit because of containment measures and the decline of households’ incomes. In his study, Stepan Zemtsov sought to identify trends and factors affecting the dynamics of the SME sector in Russian regions. A more dramatic reduction in the number of SME was observed in the largest agglomerations, northern raw materials regions and border regions, which reduction was slightly influenced by stricter lockdown measures on the negative side, but on the positive – households’ relative high income, favorable business climate and a large size of the consumer market.

Employment growth in the SME sector in Russia can be partially explained by anti-crisis measures, transformation of numerous large companies to mid-sized ones, as well as statistical effects. In regions with larger markets and a high level of digitalization, employment picked up to a greater extent.

In Stepan Zemtsov’s view, it is necessary to continue SME support programs in 2021. A particular attention should be paid to the support of business digitalization, upgrading of the business climate in regions and promotion of accessibility of large markets to SME.

The full text of the article is available here.