Financial Development Trajectories of the Russian Arctic Regions

Priority development of the Arctic territories is particularly relevant in conditions of unstable environmental balance, significant climate change, and territorial vulnerability. The Arctic regions have common natural and climatic conditions, geographical location, the availability of natural resources on their territory, the level of technical and technological development of the branches of the national economy, however, they are characterized by heterogeneous conditions of socio-economic development, therefore, the imbalances in the functioning of these regions are manifested more clearly. Elimination or levelling of the emerging interregional imbalances is an objective necessity for the sustainable development of regions, ensuring their financial stability. The authors, on the basis of private financial indices (budget, economic, investment), carried out a pinpoint adjustment of the development of the Arctic territories and determined the trajectories for the implementation and expansion of potential financial opportunities, taking into account the identified threats and drivers that affect the economy of the region. This approach made it possible, firstly, to assess the financial capabilities of the regions in terms of different aspects (budgetary, economic, etc.,); secondly, to identify the dynamics of their financial development; and, thirdly, to rank the regions according to the level of financial solvency. As a result, three clusters were identified: regions with a high value of the economic index; regions with a high value of the investment index and regions with a high value of the budget index. For each group, a vector of financial development has been determined, which makes it possible to effectively use all the possibilities of the Arctic regions to ensure their both social and financial and investment development.