Reform of development institutions: who will remain after mergers and acquisitions

At the same time, strategically important organizations will remain.

Ivan Petrovsky

Recall that back in his 2015 message, Vladimir Putin stated the need to optimize development institutions. They were created at different times and for different tasks, in their previous form they have already fulfilled their task - they have accumulated state assets. It is now believed that the new task is to build effective work of these resources and assets, aimed at results. In July 2020, already taking into account the peculiarities of the pandemic period, Putin issued a decree on the goals and priorities of national development until 2030.

“We must more effectively distribute our capabilities, maneuver our means... The more specific the tasks that we have to solve and the goals that we have to achieve, the better it will be for all of us, but, of course, for the results of our work, for citizens in the end”, - said Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects on July 13, 2020.

According to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, “the structure of the unified plan is five national goals and 25 indicators of their achievement. For each of them, target values for the next five years and the final result for 2030 have been determined. At the same time, all targets are decomposed to each ministries, departments, the federal body of executive power in the region, including development institutions "at the same time..." Personal responsibility for achieving national goals are shared by all members of the Government in the framework of their competences:. vice - premiers, ministers, heads of federal executive bodies, institutions development".

Optimization is carried out in three directions:

1) transfer under the management of a single large development institution;

2) liquidation of institutions with the transfer of functions to a single development institution or federal executive bodies;

3) consolidation of institutions by type of activity.

Of the 40 operating development institutions, only 12 specialized organizations continue to work in their core areas in their current form. These are state corporations and organizations developing specific strategic industries: Rosatom, Rostec, Roskosmos, Avtodor, Deposit Insurance Agency, Russian environmental operator, Rosagroleasing, Rosselkhozbank, Far East Development Corporation, North Caucasus Development Corporation, DOM.RF and North Caucasus Resorts, which expands the scope of activities and becomes a Tourism Corporation) .

On the basis of VEB.RF, a large unified development institution is being created, which will actually replace 16 existing institutions by transferring under control or transferring some functions. VEB.RF takes over SME Corporation, Russian Export Center, EXIAR, Rusnano, Skolkovo, Fund for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology, Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs and Fund for Industrial Development.

Another 8 development institutions working in the same areas will be liquidated as independent or structural organizations, and their functions will be redistributed: Special economic zones, the Fund for the Development of Single-Industry Towns, the Russian IT Development Fund, Rosinfocominvest, the Agency for Technological Development, the Agency for the Development of Human Capital in the Far East and the Arctic, the Fund for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, the Far East Agency for Attracting Investments and Export Support.

In addition, 10 development institutions are consolidated into 5. Institutions with similar areas of activity are combined:

- STLC and VEB-Leasing will be transformed into a Unified Leasing Company;

- SME Bank and DOM.RF Bank - to the Universal Bank;

- Fund for Assistance to Housing and Utilities Reform and Fund protection of the rights of citizens participating in shared construction - into a single Fund for Assistance to Housing and Utilities Reform;

- The Russian Foundation for Basic Research will be added to the Russian Science Foundation;

- The Russian venture company is transferred to the management of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

Why there was a need for such optimization, he explained in an interview with radio Sputnik political scientist, professor at the Higher School of Economics Oleg Matveychev.

“Already during the creation of some of these development institutions, which have now been eliminated, there were questions, do they duplicate some existing organizations, whether it is possible to entrust the same to the existing organizations. Nevertheless, they were separated into separate structures , began to work, according to the Accounts Chamber, their effectiveness has been low for all this time. Their functions will be distributed between financial institutions, VEB, first of all. And the government will partially oversee the already existing structures. The effect is budget savings", - explained Oleg Matveychev.