Socio-economic development of the Republic of Crimea in 2018-2020

Dmitry I. Uznarodov
Candidate of Political Sciences, Researcher
Laboratory of Sociology, Federal Research Centre the Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation

Currently, the process of integration of the Crimean Peninsula into the Russian economic system cannot be called fully completed. Now the level of socio-economic development in the Republic of Crimea is still not high. This is evidenced by many statistical indicators. For example, in terms of Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), the Republic of Crimea ranks only fifth in the Southern Federal District, ahead of only such subjects as the Republic of Adygea and the Republic of Kalmykia. For comparison, the GRDP of the Krasnodar region exceeds the GRDP of the Republic of Crimea by five times (Department of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. URL: https://crimea.gks.ru/folder/27544). If we talk about such an indicator as GRDP per capita, then the Republic of Crimea occupies the last position among all the subjects of the Southern Federal District. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to other important statistical indicators, which also indicate the rather difficult situation of the economy of the Crimean peninsula at the present time.

The Republic of Crimea continues to be the leader among all subjects of the Southern Federal District in terms of food prices. The difference in prices between other subjects of the Southern Federal District averages around 36-40%, depending on the category of goods, but for a number of goods the difference reaches up to 60-80%. The reason for higher prices in Crimea is primarily due to the fact that large federal retail chains do not want to consider Crimea as a platform for their development. The main problem is the cost of renting retail space in the Republic of Crimea, which is several times higher than, for example, in the Krasnodar region.

An important problem for the Republic of Crimea is also the prices of utility tariffs. The growth rates of electricity tariff prices are particularly high. In general, the rates of tariff growth in the Republic of Crimea are the highest of all the subjects of the Southern Federal District. For example, in 2018, compared to 2016, the increase in electricity tariffs was 55%[i], and in the period from 2018 to 2020 – by 22.78%.

As a positive point, it can be noted that over the past four years, wages in municipalities of the republic have increased by an average of 5-7 thousand rubles. At the same time, over the past few years, especially over the past 2020, there have been certain trends in some areas to reduce other socio-economic indicators.

Currently, there is a certain stratification between the northern and southern parts of the republic in terms of socio-economic development. Most municipalities with the most favorable socio-economic situation are located in the southern part of the republic. Similar municipalities include the urban districts of Alushta, Yevpatoria, Kerch, Simferopol, Feodosia, Yalta, and Bakhchisarai district. These municipalities occupy the first places in terms of the average salary of the population, as well as leading positions in terms of the lowest unemployment rate and a lower coefficient of tension in the labor market.

The least economically developed municipalities are located mainly in the northern part of the peninsula, in particular, they include Dzhankoy, Krasnoperekopsky, Pervomaisky and Razdolnensky districts. In addition, municipalities with increased social tension include several districts of the central and southern part of the Crimean Peninsula, namely, Nizhnegorsky, Kirovsky, Krasnogvardeysky and Saki districts (Department of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Official website. The labor market and employment of the population. URL: https://crimea.gks.ru/folder/27542 ).

In 2020, due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19, which caused numerous socio-economic problems around the world, in the Republic of Crimea, as in other regions of Russia, there was a significant increase in the unemployment rate, which at the end of the year was 9.2 times, which is the highest indicator among all subjects of the Southern Federal District. In general, the indicators of unemployment growth in Russia look somewhat less large-scale: by the end of 2020, the unemployment rate in the country increased by 24.7% and, according to official data, amounted to 5.9% (URL: https://tass.ru/ekonomika/10572707).

So, turning to conclusions, it should be noted that currently there are a number of unresolved problems that have a negative impact on the socio-economic development of the Republic of Crimea. Such problems include a low GRDP per capita, high prices for food products, too fast growth rates of utility prices, significant differentiation of municipalities of the republic (between the most lagging northern regions and the most developed southern ones) in terms of average wages of the population and the unemployment rate. In addition, a serious problem is the growth rate of the unemployment rate over the past two years in a number of municipalities of the Crimea, caused by a massive decline in economic indicators due to the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020.

[i] Reference table of electricity tariffs for the population of the Republic of Crimea for 2016. URL: https://energo-24.ru/tariffs/electro/2016/11010.html; Reference table of electricity tariffs for the population of the Republic of Crimea for 2018. URL: https://energo-24.ru/tariffs/electro/2018-elektro/12881.html

E-mail: uzn-dmitrij@yandex.ru

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