Financial factors for improving the competitiveness of the corporate sector in the Komi Republic

The paper demonstrates the importance of a stable financial state of the corporate sector for the competitiveness of the region, limited tools of regional budget policy and the possibility of in-creasing the financial support of small and medium-sized businesses in the Komi Republic. The analysis is based on the indicators of investment in fixed assets and the size of bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses, which are both indicators of the finances of the corporate sector of the economy and the macro-financial block in the concept of regional competitiveness. In the Komi Republic, as in other northern regions of Russia, the volume of bank lending to small businesses is extremely limited – but the specific investment per capita, and with it the growth rate of the economy, significantly lags behind the average northern and average Russian values. Similarly, in the Komi Republic, as in the rest of the resource economies of Russia, the effects of the "resource curse" (low revenue of small and medium-sized businesses and the volume of innovative products) are manifested – while the poverty of the population is high, the size of average monetary incomes is small and, in comparison with regions with similar income levels, informal employment is very limited. The paper suggests a way to overcome the identified negative trends and restore competitiveness – stimulating demand from the corporate sector of the Komi Republic, primarily small and medium-sized businesses, for financial resources offered by federal development institutions. The problems of intersectoral unevenness and the impact of the system of “northern benefits” on the finances of enterprises are considered.