Six Russian regions, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, produced almost 50 percent of the country’s GDP in 2011 and the regional structure is unlikely to change in the near future, experts of RIA Rating agency said on Monday.
These regions were Moscow, the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the energy-rich Khanty-Mansi Autonomous area (Yugra), Tyumen Region and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.
“These regions account for almost half of the domestic GDP; they are the major donors of the federal budget, generate the larger part of consumer demand and the country’s basic export flow. These regions are the place of work or headquarters for most of the country’s largest corporations, including all major Russian monopolies,” RIA Rating said in its 2011 survey of the social and economic position of regions.
Russia demonstrates large differences in economic development by region, the experts said.
“This uneven development is largely determined by the availability of natural resources, the historically established infrastructure, climatic conditions, the residents’ attitude toward work and other objective factors,” the experts said.
The Big Six can be divided into the Moscow conglomerate and St. Petersburg as the country’s finance accumulating centers and the Tyumen conglomerate as the material source of these financial resources. These two blocs are closely related and cannot exist without each other, the experts said.
The North Caucasus, and also the republics in the Volga area, Siberia and the Far East demonstrate the worst economic and social results.
“This picture is hardly surprising. This problem is long-standing, painful and so far, to all appearances, has not been duly solved despite all the efforts,” the experts said.
