Is the crisis in Stavropol Territory over?

Stavropol officials are still arguing among themselves about the state and prospects of the district’s economy. The forecasts of the official administration and of business community representatives differ.

Vadim Grebennikov, the head of economic development committee, claims that the results of the past year show considerable progress and that the crisis is practically over. The chemical industry, electronic equipment production and small businesses indeed show positive results. However, investment volume dropped by 16,5%.  The major item of income of the territory's budget is still trade, not production. Positive statistics speak for themselves, but the representatives of the territory's business community are not at all persuaded by it.

Some say that the figures of  Grebennikov’s report look good, but do not correspond to reality, some say that it’s getting better, but it’s still much worse than in Krasnodar. And any progress achieved is not thanks to, but rather despite the efforts of Stavropol’s administration. The tasks posed by the crisis remain unsolved, and the ‘shadow sector’, traditional in the Russian economy, is not the last reason for that.

All in all, the community didn’t accept the report well, so the head of the committee will have to prepare a new one in three months, as well as an acceptable strategy for future development, with the priority of job creation.

Lada Ledeneva. Exclusively to VK