Economic policy of agro-industrial regions of the south of Russia in the conditions of COVID-19

Significant macroeconomic and structural consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to limited business activity in Russian regions. As a result, regional economies have experienced a crisis. In order to smooth the negative consequences of the pandemic, federal entities of the Russian Federation were given the right to conduct their own economic policy and determine independently the measures of business support. The purpose of this article is to study the content of the economic policy of agro-industrial regions of the South of Russia and to identify its priorities in the context of the spread of COVID-19. The research methodology is based on the theory of shocks. The authors hypothesis is that under the spread of COVID-19, the sustainability of regional economy is determined by a balance between aggregate demand and aggregate supply. The object of the study is agro-industrial regions of the South of Russia: Rostov, Volgograd regions and Krasnodar krai. As a result of the analysis, the characteristic of the sectoral structure of regions has been given, and the impact of quarantine measures on the main indicators of regional development has been analyzed. The measures taken by regional authorities to support business have been described. It is concluded that the support measures which are being implemented are mainly focused on the total supply by means of the reduction of administrative and financial burden on business. It is noted that for the support of regional economy, it is also necessary to support aggregate demand through the implementation of cooperative fiscal, money-and-credit and monetarymeasures.