Audit Chamber says interim dividends risky for Russian budget

MOSCOW, Aug 24 (PRIME) -- The practice of state-controlled companies paying interim dividends bears risks for Russia’s federal budget in 2021, the Audit Chamber said in a report on Monday following inspection of the Federal State Property Management Agency’s compliance with the federal budget law in 2019.

“The practice of initiation of interim dividend payments that has been in place for the past four years creates risks for fulfillment of the federal budget in the next financial year,” the materials read.

Minimization of the amount of government’s decisions on reduction of dividend payments of some companies, and a higher efficiency of administration of dividend payment arrears that amounted to 236.3 million rubles as of January 1, 2020, are the potential reserves of budget revenue, the Audit Chamber said.

Like in previous years, 13 largest payers accounted to 86.7% of the total dividend payout to the budget in 2019 contributing 382.6 billion rubles.

For 2018, the government ruled that the bulk of companies must pay at least 50% of their net profit calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in dividends, but allowed some of them to pay less, like gas giant Gazprom, state oil and gas holding Rosneftegaz, second largest bank VTB, and railway monopoly Russian Railways, auditors said.

(74.0999 rubles – U.S. $1)

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