According to the Russian news site, C News, conducted over March 2020, spending on IT infrastructure, digital transformation, and implementation is set to increase by 31.6% in comparison to last year.
In monetary terms, this means IT spending this year will reach around ₽212 billion.
Notably spend has increased across all regions in Russia, however, the Krasnodar region has seen the greatest spend increase moving from the 16th highest spending in 2019 to the 4th highest spending in 2020. The top 3, as in previous years are:
- Moscow city
- St. Petersburg city
- Moscow region
Other regions that are also set to see significant investment increases include the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Dagestan, the Kemerovo region, the Kaliningrad region, the Ryazan Oblast, the Omsk region, and the Orenburg region.
The full table can be viewed here.
What’s In The Krasnodar Region?
The Krasnodar region boasts three large cities, these being Krasnodar, Sochi, and Novorossiysk.
The region is home to a significant amount of infrastructure of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and Novorossiysk is the main Black Seaport.
Sochi has more global fame through hosting the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and becoming home to the Russian Grand Prix in the same year.
Krasnodar is also home to Magnit, one of the larger grocery retailers in Russia, and petrochemical company SIE Neftehim.
Where Is It Being Spent
It’s said that a large factor in this increase is the current need to create better information systems for healthcare sectors.
In Moscow, the development of better IT infrastructure for healthcare systems is the third-highest spending area, behind the Moscow Smart City initiative.
The Moscow smart city began in 2011, and the idea is to create Moscow as a “City-as-a-service”, and investments have been made to make e-Government services and Citizen focused applications. The Smart City is also a thematic attraction in Moscow.
In St. Petersburg the financial focus is on communications, and the St. Petersburg Single Card.
Perm Nikitin, Minister of Information Development and Communications, said in an interview with C-News:
Today, the most capacious items of expenditure fall on 13 industries. Among them are the digitalization of healthcare and education, the transport industry and housing and communal services, financial, economic and procurement activities, ensuring the operation of a data center, the supply and implementation of information protection tools.
The implementation of these projects, of course, is subject to any changes due to the Corona crisis, and other economic variables such as falling oil prices.
