The article raises one of the most acute problems of the economy – promotion of sustainable economic growth. The article substantiates the relevance of the issue for global, national and regional economies. It argues that the goal of ensuring high economic growth rates is a strategic one for the Russian Federation; the achievement of this goal will allow Russia to retain its position among the world leaders. However, this requires, first of all, the transition from the model of economy oriented to raw materials export to the innovation model.
The article shows that investments play the most important part in the promotion of sustainable economic growth. Endogenous models indicate that long-term sustainable economic growth requires investments in machinery and equipment, in human capital and in the knowledge sector. At that, the investments in human capital and knowledge are more preferable.
The results of the investment processes analysis presented in the article allowed us to draw some conclusions concerning the situation that is taking shape in the Russian Federation. In particular, there has been a decline in the share of investment in machinery, equipment and vehicles; the structure of investments in fixed capital is not optimal; the share of investment in agriculture, manufacturing and construction is reducing; investments in mechanical engineering are extremely low while this sphere is crucial for the state of country’s productive capacity. The knowledge sector and branches aimed at human capital development are funded on leftovers.
The current situation is largely determined by the fact that economic entities experience a shortage of equity capital; by unfavourable lending conditions that banks offer to the real sector of the economy; by the budget crisis and the low attractiveness of the Russian economy to foreign investors.
The article concludes that to change the situation it is necessary to adjust the socio-economic policy, to abandon the resource-based model of economic development
Keywords
investments, economic growth, endogenous economic growth models, investment structure, investment sources, socio-economic policy