Natalia Zubarevich: North-Caucasian region with plenty of armed incidents will receive more transfers

At the background of the economic crisis, the budgets of the regions of Northern Caucasus look better than on the average in Russia, but the situation with regional debts is tense. The unstable regions of Northern Caucasus, which have a high level of confrontation, may hope for more economic support, Natalia Zubarevich, an Associate Professor of the Higher School of Economics (HSE), said in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot".

According to her story, economic problems have not yet appeared in their full scale, particularly in Northern Caucasus, which is dependent on federal money transfers, "which have not yet been essentially reduced in contrast to the whole of Russia." The economy of southern regions associated with agriculture and processing, proved to be more stable than in other regions, said the Associate Professor of the HSE.

"I noticed that when they start shooting more in some republic of Northern Caucasus, it is immediately followed by higher transfers... Dagestan and Ingushetia are vivid examples. I believe that at allocation of transfers the political component will dominate,” said Zubarevich.

Speaking of regional budgets, she noted that Northern Caucasus (based on the data for January-October 2014) "looks well against Russia’s backdrop." However, the situation with debts is not so good; thus, in North Ossetia, as of November 1, 2014, the debt exceeded 90% of the revenues.

Among the consequences of the crisis, Ms Zubarevich noted its impact on the migration, including from the regions of Northern Caucasus, which have excess of labour force.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.