Mel'nikov R.M.Institute of Public Administration and Management under Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russian Federation rmmel@mail.ru
Importance The article reviews techniques used for selection of projects for subsidizing and co-financing by the Russian public sector. I compare the domestic and international experience, especially the World Bank and the European Commission experience. Objectives The paper demonstrates that the Russian methodology of comprehensive analysis of economic (public) efficiency is insufficiently elaborated. The article identifies the specifics of the Russian decision-making practices, consisting in the provision of State support for commercially viable projects that could be financed on market terms. Methods I evaluate the methodological approaches developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation for selection of industrial projects for seeking interest rate subsidies for servicing investment loans, and by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation for selection of projects seeking funding at the expense of the National Welfare Fund resources. I reveal problematic aspects of the considered methodologies, which create prerequisites for subjective decision making and prioritized consideration of interests of the large State corporations with strong administrative potential in relation to the most effective use of limited public sector resources for socio-economic development of the country and overcoming the negative consequences of the crisis on a scale of national economy. Results The paper emphasizes insufficient attention to the consideration of the probability of redundancy of the State support in assessing the budgetary efficiency of projects, the need for greater refinement and adaptation of methodological approaches to the assessment of the economic (social) efficiency taken from previously developed domestic and foreign techniques, which have different scope of application, the lack of clear rules of the evaluation of criteria for financial, fiscal and economic performance and resilience to risks while carrying out competitive selection of projects for the State support provision. Conclusions and Relevance I make recommendations for improving the methodological approaches to project selection for subsidizing and co-financing by the Russian federal authorities based on international experience.
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