The role of national development institutions in Russian export diversification

The development of non-commodity non-energy exports is one of the national goals reflected in the President’s Decrees in 2018 and 2020. It is assumed that national development institutions should play a key role in pursuing a consistent export promotion policy, including Russian Export Center JSC currently managed by VEB.RF. In Russia the increasing role of development institutions in facilitating the export activities of firms is due to unprecedented sanctions against Russian companies and sectors and the need to find new export directions in friendly countries and promote Russian goods in these markets. To a large extent, export support measures are aimed at increasing the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises in export activities: out of 11,3 thousand exporters supported in 2019, 80% are SMEs. In 2019 the total volume of supported exports by the REC amounted to about 19,5 billion US dollars. The econometric analysis shows that export support measures are generally an effective tool for the development of Russian non-resource exports: companies which have received support from REC JSC export more and have a more diversified commodity and country export structure. The most effective measures are those related to credit and guarantee support and insurance, and virtually all types of support encourage companies to explore new markets.