Comparative Analysis of Development of Public-Private Partnership in Regions of Southern Federal District

The purpose of the article is to study the development of the public-private partnership in the regions of the Southern Federal District, identify the cause-and-effect relationships of the ongoing processes, substantiate the differentiation of regions in terms of the intensity of the introduction of various forms of partnership between the government and business, and identify the main directions of their sustainable interaction. The author conducted a comparative analysis of the regions of the Southern Federal District according to the criteria of dynamics, the volume of investments in public-private partnership projects this year, the assessment of accumulated experience, and indicators of the state of the regulatory and institutional environment. The researcher substantiated the reasons for the disparity in the levels of public-private partnership development in the regions fr om 2019 to 2023, and the study made it possible to suggest the main directions for improvement of the relationship between the state and private business in terms of positive factors’ use and neutralizing negative factors. Using the results of the analysis of the dynamics and assessment of the accumulated experience expressed in the volume of investments in the region, the author suggests measures to resolve contradictions and overcome existing obstacles in the dynamic development of public-private partnership projects in the regions of the Southern Federal District. It is concluded that a number of regions of the Southern Federal District have a stable potential for public-private partnership development, some regions lost ground for objective reasons, and some are included in the list of those regions wh ere there are systemic failures. The methodological basis of the research offers a systematic approach and general scientific methods of cognition of economic phenomena and processes. The author uses methods of comparative analysis, grouping, and expert assessment. The practical significance of the results presented in the article lies in the possibility of their use in decision-making to ensure the sustainable development of the economy and social sphere of the regions of the Southern Federal District using the public-private partnership mechanism.