Finance minister: Government to mull dividends of each state company

SKOLKOVO, Moscow, Feb 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian government will discuss dividend payments of each state company on the basis of its financial condition, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have agreed in the government that we will again discuss the situation of each large company that will pay dividends,” he said.

The ministry stands by its position, part of the budget that all state companies should pay 50% of their net profit in dividends, but discussion is still going on.

“We are not saying that there may be any exemptions. We will study financial situations of companies, their capability of dividend payments, and consequences for conditions of the companies after that, this is why discussion of the question in the government is going on,” he said.

In 2016, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a one-time ruling that a state company must take the highest figure of its net profit – under Russian Accounting Standards or International Financial Reporting Standards – and allocate no less than 50% of the net profit for 2015 dividends. The Finance Ministry wants to make the ruling permanent.

But previously, media reported that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that a regulation that orders state companies to pay 25% of the net profit in dividends may be maintained.

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