Being the most important economic sectors, the energy sector provides significant profits for the Russian economy and is largely dependent on the functioning of several multinational corporations such as Rosneft, Gazprom and Lukoil. Investments in these companies have always been important drivers for the Russian economy. New conditions of the global economy create serious challenges for the sector; therefore, the investment attractiveness of the sector is changing. The authors propose a new approach to the analysis of investment attractiveness, based on the conjugation of technical financial analysis, reflecting the internal factors that affect the companies' performance, and the SWOT analysis of the industry combined with the Doing Business Rankings that give a full picture of the external factors of investment attractiveness. This methodology makes it possible to identify the main specific characteristics of Russian MNCs and develop an investment strategy in the Russian energy sector in the current difficult times. Another result is a strategy for the development of the Russian energy sector in order to attract additional investment. The novelty of the article includes the implied methodology of investment attractiveness and evidence of the high investment attractiveness of the Russian energy sector even in unstable conditions, especially in the COVID economic shock.

The article covers a wide theme of fintech development in China and its effects on the Chinese economy. The article pinpoints the main benefits for the economy that fintech provides. In addition to that, the authors cover a range of specific problems of the Chinese financial sector, revealing the new fintech circle of the economic development. It demonstrates the synergetic effects of the fintech in the economy. The main findings of the article are that the effects of the fintech development are similar in all the countries, still the risks are specific to the concrete economy and the fintech circle of the economic development.

Today, the global financial system is inefficient in bridging the gap between the developed and developing countries. The dynamically developing countries, such as Asian states, are not satisfied with modern international financial institutions and are actively involved in regional integration, creating new international financial institutions. The newly formed financial institutions contribute to the formation of a different system of financial relations in Asia, which, in turn, is being transformed into the Asian financial system. These trends cannot avoid the impact of the global imbalances. The object of the article is to prove the efficiency of the Asian financial institutions in fighting global imbalances in the region. The major task of these institutions is not the substitution of the current global mechanisms, but their assistance and helping them in solving the global problems on the regional level. The major results include the proof that the developing economies in Asia are more consolidated and capable of conducting a single economic strategy in the long run and the proof of the higher efficiency of Asian financial institutions and their single geo-economic strategy in the long run; this suggests that a new Asian financial system is being built.

Africa, despite continued and substantial financial assistance from more developed countries, has not yet achieved significant economic growth. It can be concluded that the assistance format requires adjustment. As a new information society is being formed, it can be supposed that the transfer of many technologies to African countries can significantly improve their situation. Thus, the authors put forward the hypothesis that in order to boost the development of African countries, the transfer of basic industrial technologies is needed. The major challenge of the article was to create a model, incorporating both economic indicators of growth and the volume of aid to the African countries, as the second parameter is hard to estimate. Within the developed hypothesis, proposals are put forward for the formation of technological convergence specific mechanisms through supranational institutions. The main aim of the article is to confirm the hypothesis, and put forward four schemes for the formation of the technological exchange infrastructure on the continent. In addition to that, the article provides basic directions for the institutional cooperation between the international development institutions. The key contribution of the article is the proof that the international development institutions' activity and their aid don't correlate with the economic development of the African countries, thus they don't have a significant economic influence.