PM says Russia spent 2.5 tln rbl on support of people in 2020

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has allocated almost 2.5 trillion rubles to additional support of people in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Wednesday presenting a report on the government’s work in 2020 to the parliament’s lower chamber State Duma.

“We tried to support the people to the maximum possible degree, to support the working people and the people who were out of job temporarily, and to support families with children. I will specify only one figure: we allocated almost 2.5 trillion rubles to additional support of the people,” he said.

The government took targeted anti-crisis measures to help the people and businesses keep jobs and reduce costs. Support was provided to half of the country’s families, and more than 4.5 million children of ages ranging from three to seven that live in the poor families started receiving benefits. More than 1.5 million poor families also receive special payments for children under three years old. The government will fulfil all social liabilities, he said.

About 230,000 companies took part in the government’s 2% credit program to support employment, and around 430 billion rubles of loans issued to small and medium-sized businesses under the program will be written off. Also, contracts worth 45 billion rubles have been signed under a new, 3% program. Both programs support employment of up to 6.7 million people, Mishustin said.

The support provided by the government helped businesses to save hundreds of billions of rubles in 2020. The government also issued subsidies to the airlines, railway transportation and cruise companies. More than 100 airports received financial support last year. The government also supported more than 33,000 social nonprofit organizations in 2020, he said.

The Russian government managed to do without tough restrictions after COVID-19 outbreaks last autumn and this spring.

“Last autumn and this spring, during the outbreaks of the epidemic, we managed to avoid tough restriction measures. It is obvious that nothing would have been achieved without heroic work of our people. The entire country came together, and helped us slow down the spread of the coronavirus,” he said.

The government will prolong registration certificates of the coronavirus medicines and tests in order to avoid disruptions in supplies to the hospitals and pharmacies that happened at the beginning of the pandemic, he said.

It is important that the government restore the labor market, which has already returned to the pre-pandemic shape in 17 regions, he said.

(74.1567 rubles – U.S. $1)

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