Russia is introducing new financial and development tools to support the creative industries, with the sector currently accounting for 4.2 per cent of the country’s GDP. The share is planned to increase to 6 per cent by 2030, Anastasiya Zolotukhina, Director of the Department for Social Sphere and Non-Profit Sector Development at the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, said at a session during the Eastern Economic Forum 2026.
The new development tools include export mechanisms, endowment funds and digital financial assets (DFAs), which are also available to non-profit organisations operating in the creative industries, as
reported by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.
The plan includes measures to improve the effectiveness of endowment funds, including the development of supporting services for specialised management organisations, the removal of restrictions on paid activities for other non-profit owners of endowments, and the creation of universal solutions for their operation, fundraising and promotion of endowments.
Digital financial assets are another area of development for the creative sector. The volume of the DFA market exceeded US$19.6 billion last year, while regional practices in this area are also developing.
Export development is also becoming an important direction for creative industries. Organisations focused on international markets use a broader range of financial instruments, including letters of credit, factoring and advance payment insurance.
Russian product export catalogues aimed at consumers and partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and ASEAN countries have already received positive assessments from experts. A proposal is now being considered to create a specialised catalogue of creative products from the Russian Far East. Seventy promising creative companies from the macroregion have already been selected for the initiative.
The next stage is to develop a comprehensive export catalogue, adapt the products to the needs of international markets and present them at key platforms in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Anastasiya Zolotukhina, combining creative industries with long-term capital instruments such as endowments, digital financial assets and export mechanisms can support the transition from short-term financing of individual initiatives to systematic investment in sustainable regional ecosystems.