Although the government’s plans to raise foreign financing were fulfilled, the results of 2017 were ambiguous in this respect. The private sector and, especially, hi-tech startups generated investors’ profound interest. Investments in the public sector were provided by the state through external borrowing and redistribution of funds raised this way. The public sector thus remains unattractive for investors, but, in fact, it seeks state subsides, rather than investments. In 2017, the government took a number of important steps to improve the regulatory framework for investment and to stimulate business ventures.

Foreign Investment: Startups and Innovations or Loans

This work is devoted to the study of the essence of the concept, causes and main characteristics of depressed regions in foreign countries. The paper highlights the main approaches to the implementation of measures to support depressed regions, as well as the main indicators for assessing the effectiveness of their implementation. Based on the analysis of the experience of the development of depressed regions in foreign countries, basic recommendations for the improvement of regional policy in the Republic of Belarus have been developed.

This paper contains the results of examination of the experience of foreign countries in legislative support of the circular economy, summarizes the chronology of its  development at the European Union level, and identifies the reasons why the transition to the model of a closed-cycle economy is gaining momentum in the world.

The article includes best practices for development of circular economy and its implementation. It is stated that each country has national peculiarities of transition to this concept, as well as various priority directions of implementation caused by set of advantages and risks. The barriers which constrain access of the circular projects to bank financing, and confine its utilization as a result, are identified. Authors put special emphasis to the innovative business models providing the circular system of production and consumption, including Circular suppliers, Resources recovery, Sharing platforms, Product life extension, Product as a service.

In the article the categories of “money” and “monetary funds” are analyzed and the author’s interpretation of these definitions are given. Taking into account the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, the author proposes a structure of interrelations of monetary funds, tokens, electronic and virtual money. With the purpose of giving a clearer understanding of the government positions on the issue of the virtual money market development, the article provides examples of operations’ regulations with cryptocurrencies in a number of countries.

In the article the essence of electronic and digital money is analyzed, comparative analysis of these two categories is carried out, taking into account their distinctive characteristics and common elements. Virtual money, including cryptocurrencies, is distinguished as a subspecies of digital money. Cryptocurrencies are analyzed based on the most famous ones, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, DASH, etc.