What the Regions Can Do to Overcome Stagnation and Rekindle Significant Socioeconomic Growth

The article discusses the crucial need to rekindle socioeconomic growth in Russia. It shows that the main directions on this path are financial boosting of investment in fixed assets and, to a greater extent, human capital. The state should put emphasis on technological re-equipping of the entire national economy, modern infrastructure, accelerated housing and social construction, and poverty alleviation. Mobilization of investment in fixed assets and knowledge economy is considered the main driver of socioeconomic development in regions and overcoming the present economic and social inequality. The potential advantages of investment lending, issuance of regional loans, and local budgets optimization are analyzed in detail. The article considers the opportunities regions have in improving the well-being of the population. Among the proposed measures are raising of the minimum wage, insurance in shared financing of housing construction, an adequate system of social benefits based on monitoring of needy families, and expansion of loans issued for education. The set of measures proposed by the author is supplemented by a set of necessary corrective measures in the face of serious risks involved in continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic and oil crisis. The article stresses a particular role of financial and monetary authorities in supporting business and the public.