The briefing focused on the implementation of the priority action plan to ensure the development of the Russian economy.
Briefing by Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov
Maxim Reshetnikov: Let me begin with last week's results.
The Prime Minister approved the plan of priority measures, which includes 113 measures as of today. This comes in addition to over 50 measures that had already been adopted and implemented, over the previous two weeks. Seven out of these 113 measures have been implemented over four days. About 18 initiatives are now in their final stages.
We are waiting for the session of the State Duma and the Federation Council. Many initiatives adopted in the first reading will be submitted for the second reading, and some others have been amended for it.
The key initiatives, in line with the Ministry of Economic Development, include the adoption of laws on special economic zones that would provide the Russian Export Centre with special rights, including on import support. Several other measures in the sphere of customs and tariff regulations will also be implemented.
In addition to this, the law on special administrative districts is in preparation for the second and the third readings, under which we will largely fast-track the procedure called redomiciliation. In other words, this means moving Russian companies from foreign jurisdictions to a Russian jurisdiction. There are two special administrative districts for this now: in Kaliningrad and in Vladivostok, in the Far East.
There is great demand for this among companies. When we meet with businesses, they constantly ask about the details. We organise roundtable discussions and so on. And, of course, we took into consideration a lot of their proposals: including allowing companies to carry out many operations with copies of documents.
The main points: last week we adopted a major one-trillion-rouble package of measures to support small and medium-sized businesses. This package includes four programmes. First, there is a concessional financing programme by the Central Bank. The second component is a joint programme by the Central Bank and the Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation to support investment projects of SMEs.
The Government also took a decision to allocate 14 billion to subsidise loans under Programme 1764, which is our primary programme of the national project. The final interest rate across all the programmes will be 15 percent for small and microbusinesses and 13.5 percent for medium-sized enterprises. The fourth component is umbrella vouching and umbrella guarantees.
All documents were finished last week, and the decisions, including those involving the board of the RSMB Corporation, were adopted. Our job for this week (and partly next week) is to launch these programmes, to make sure that small businesses can already go to banks and receive their money. It will take about a week to go through with the procedures, including those involving banks.
One of the programmes – the joint programme of the Central Bank and the RSMB Corporation – is already underway. Last week, 250 loans worth over 7 billion roubles were approved, for businesses in trade, the processing industry, catering, tourism and others. The range of sectors covered is large. I have only mentioned the primary ones.
What are we working on this week? We are expecting more decisions, in addition to what I said concerning the State Duma. We are working on a bankruptcy moratorium, on supporting tech companies (also by providing concessional loans) and, according to a presidential executive order, on extending the moratorium on inspections of IT companies until 2025. There will be more.
Another important thing. Last Friday, we issued decisions concerning loans for backbone industrial and agricultural companies. We allocated 40 billion to subsidise interest rates for industrial companies and 26 billion for agricultural companies. This week, we will be selecting banks, signing agreements, etc. We expect the loans to become available in the beginning of the next week. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture are working on these support measures.
These are the main points I wanted to report.
Question: Gleb Fyodorov, Объясняем.рф.
It has become obvious that state contracts are now practically impossible to fulfill on the previous terms and conditions. What will happen if the contractors fail to fully meet their obligations? Will they be put on an unreliable contractors’ list?
Maxim Reshetnikov: Indeed, the situation has changed dramatically. There is the price factor, as well as the availability of the required equipment. This is especially true in construction projects, because some of the equipment is actually included in design specifications. Customers and contractors faced the dilemma of either halting the works, or [waiting for] some kind of flexible mechanism to be worked out.
This mechanism has become available. Amendments have been made to Federal Laws No. 44 and No. 223, which regulate procurement by state-owned companies, which is basically government spending. The Government is now empowered to change the terms and conditions flexibly. The Government adopted a resolution on 10 March, giving state customers the authority to flexibly change the terms of contracts at current prices. Contractors can offer a replacement, submit substantiating documents for price indexation, and follow a prescribed procedure to settle the problem. We urge contractors to work closely with state customers now and provide proper rationale for the changes, of course. But in any case, state customers now have more flexibility, and the solution is now up to government agencies. I think we will draw up detailed instructions with the Ministry of Finance and post them on the Объясняем.рф website.
Gleb Fyodorov (Объясняем.рф): Will the loan repayment holidays also apply to credit cards, including those issued before 1 March?
Maxim Reshetnikov: Yes, according to the Central Bank instructions, this rule applies to credit cards with a limit of up to 100,000 roubles, as far as I know. So yes, this option is available, and borrowers can take advantage of it.
Gleb Fyodorov (Объясняем.рф): About an important measure to support businesses – you mentioned 15 percent on working capital credit. Where can entrepreneurs apply for this kind of loan and when?
Maxim Reshetnikov: If you are referring to Programme 1764, it involves 100 banks, which are signing additional agreements now. We believe this work will take this week and, possibly, the beginning of the next. Big banks will sign it all promptly. Smaller banks, regional banks – they need a little more time for this. A list of these banks is available on the Ministry of Economic Development website. Businesses know about this programme; it has been running for more than a year, so the list is as long as possible. All issues have been settled there.
