MOSCOW, September 03. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian crisis opens vast opportunities for business development that might propel Russia to a far higher position in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Strategy Partners Group Alexei Prazdnichnykh told ITAR-TASS.
Prazdnichnykh, a coordinator of the World Economic Forum’s international program in Russia for assessing countries’ competitiveness, said that the effects of this year’s Ukrainian crisis on Russia’s rankings in the coming years would depend on its ability to make use of the opportunities and neutralize risks.
One of the opportunities, he said, is greater emphasis on import substitution, which would favorably affect the development of businesses locally. The key risks include the possibility of still greater restrictions on competition with the exodus of a number of key foreign players from the Russian market, as well as ineffectiveness of state investment, which will inevitably sore, as Russian businesses will face restrictions in accessing capital markets.
“Ideally, if the opportunities are used to a greater extent than the risks manifest themselves, positive trends will be in sight in two or three years from now. But if the opportunities are wasted, Russia will lose its positions in the next report,” Prazdnichnykh speculated.Global Competitiveness Report
The World Economic Forum earlier on Wednesday published its Global Competitiveness Report, in which Russia climbed eleven lines up from last year’s 64th place to 53rd.
Prazdnichnykh attributed such an impressive result to a combination of formal and substantive factors.
“From the formal standpoint, progress on some positions was achieved not only in absolute, but also in relative terms. Some of our competitors showed negative dynamics,” the analyst said. He mentioned such aspects as access to local providers, the effectiveness of marketing, the situation on the labor market and a number of infrastructural parameters.
“In substantive terms, one can say that Russia is a big economy, the country is growing richer and businesses are becoming more sophisticated,” Prazdnichnykh said.
Main challenges
Prazdnichnykh pointed to some fundamental problems that hinder Russia’s further progress, such as underdeveloped institutions and low effectiveness of state governance.
“If these aspects were made top priorities of the president and the government, this would improve Russia’s positions in the rating fundamentally, because other parameters of the rating would go up as well. Russia would surge up as a rocket over a period of five years," Prazdnichnykh concluded.