The role of offset contracts in the development of public-private partnership mechanisms
Authors: Bessonova Elena , Lopatina Natal'ya 
Published: January 2024

An offset contract implies a government contract that assumes the existence of counter investment obligations, both on the part of the investor and on the part of the state. The investor assumes responsibility for the creation or modernization of production on the territory of the Russian Federation, and the state, in turn, creates attractive conditions for doing business. From the meaning and content of the offset contract, it can be considered as a manifestation of the mechanism of public-private partnership, which finds its expression as a result of the interaction of the subject of the Russian Federation and the supplier-investor. Offset contracts represent a promising and beneficial mechanism for both sides of interaction, which allows us to focus on long-term cooperation, which entails the creation of new production facilities on the territory of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as a result, jobs, and an increase in tax revenues. The urgency of a detailed study of the offset contract mechanism is conditioned by the possibility of implementing the plans of the Government of the Russian Federation to localize the production of technically complex products and increase the pace of import substitution under international sanctions. The study presents the advantages of an offset contract in comparison with other investment attraction tools and options for its adaptation in the Kursk region.

The purpose to study the role of offset contracts in the development of public-private partnership mechanisms and summarize ideas about the future prospects of its implementation in the mechanism of attracting investment in the regions.

Objectives: to form an idea of the concept and essence of an offset contract, to identify promising areas for the development of offset contracts, to form proposals for improving the stages of concluding an offset contract, to substantiate proposals for the further development and adaptation of this tool in the mechanism of attracting investment to the region.

Methodology. In the process of studying the subject under consideration, such methods as analysis, synthesis, generalization, logical, as well as graphical methods of information processing were used.

Results. The offset contract should be considered as a mechanism for the implementation of public-private partnership, since it meets the set of features inherent in it (attracting an investor on the terms of long-term interaction, the state acts as one of the parties, there is a possibility of exceeding the limits of budget allocations). The obligations of the parties are reciprocal and imply continuous interaction throughout the implementation period. The offset contract has significant advantages for both private and public parties, however, in fact offset contracts have practically not been distributed on the territory of the subjects of the Russian Federation, which is due to the similarity of offset contracts with other mechanisms of public-private partnership.

Conclusions. It is proposed to revise the classic procedure for concluding an offset contract, consisting of the sequential execution of stages and expand them to include assistance in site selection and assistance in the implementation of the contract with the help of tax incentives, subsidies and infrastructure development. On the example of the Kursk region, the investment component was analyzed, creating the "soil", the foundation for the development of offset contracts. We have formed proposals to stimulate the conclusion of investment contracts in the region by differentiating tax benefits for residents of the special economic zone "Third Pole" who have concluded an offset contract in the Kursk region.