Infrastructure spending in Russian regions grew by 65.5% in the first quarter of 2023

The volume of infrastructure spending in Russian regions in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 65.5% compared to the same period last year, according to a company study Sherpa group.

According to the results of the first three months, the total spending of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on infrastructure amounted to 325.9 billion rubles. The strongest growth in budget spending on infrastructure in the first quarter was recorded in the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts: by 173.7% and 171.3%, respectively, to 40.9 billion and 14.4 billion rubles. “This agrees with the Rosstat data on a sharp increase in the volume of construction work in the same districts. The minimum increase in budget infrastructure investments was in the Urals Federal District. Due to a higher base in the first quarter of 2023, they grew only by 6.3%, to 16.2 billion rubles,” the study notes.

Analysts reported that the share of the top 10 largest regions of the Russian Federation in terms of budget infrastructure investments in the first quarter of 2023 among all subjects of the federation amounted to 64.9% (or 211.5 billion rubles in monetary terms). Almost half of these funds (105 billion rubles) are allocated to Moscow, its share in the country is 32.2%. The regions closest to it in terms of the volume of such investments – Crimea and the Samara region – accounted for only 23.8 billion and 17.8 billion rubles.

The amount of funds received by the infrastructure was calculated by the authors of the study using the so-called infrastructure codes of regional budgets. These codes take into account investments in construction, overhaul and design of transport, utilities, social, telecommunications and energy sectors. Data on infrastructure spending of new territories included in the country in the fall of 2022 (DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions) are not available on a single portal. Most likely, they come directly from the federal budget, the Sherpa group believes.

Alexander Kislov