Putin offers direct support to pay wages to SMEs

MOSCOW, Apr 15 (PRIME) -- The government should include small and medium-sized enterprises in its state support program and provides direct and non-repayable aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an online government meeting on Wednesday.

“I suggest provision of direct and non-repayable financial government to the small and medium-sized companies of the affected industries in addition to the existing measures. The companies will be able to allocate this money to the most pressing tasks, including wage payment, to maintain the size of wages of their employees in April and May. The amount for each company will be calculated depending on the total amount employees as of April 1 and the sum of 12,130 rubles per employee,” he said.

Businesses will be able to apply for the aid starting from May 1. Financial support to cover the wages for April will start coming on May 18, he said, adding that the only demand for a company that wants to receive the help is that it should keep at least 90% of its employees as compared with the amount it had on April 1.

Putin also ordered the government to amend the list of system-forming companies to contain only the companies that are important for the Russian economy.

“Regarding the list of system-forming companies, I ask the government to amend the list on the basis of clear, understandable, and objective criteria. It should include the companies that are absolutely important for the whole national economy,” he said.

He suggested inclusion of small and medium-sized non-food retailers in the list of industries that suffered most from the coronavirus.

The government should also create a new credit product for system-forming companies. It should be a reduced interest loan to replenish working capital and buy raw materials and components and pre-pay the suppliers. The government would subsidize the interest rate of the loans by the amount of the central bank’s key rate, or 6%, and half of such a loan will be covered by guarantees of the Finance Ministry, Putin said.

The federal and regional authorities should join their forces with businesses and assess efficiency of the measures, he said.

SECTORIAL MEASURES

Putin also suggested allocating additional 200 billion rubles to the regional budgets to ensure their stability.

He also said that he would hold a government meeting on Thursday to discuss specific measures to support the housing construction industry, and the government would discuss the aviation industry, agriculture, and other industries later.

He suggested allocating more than 23 billion rubles to support aviation, which is now undergoing tough times.

He also ordered the government to work out plans to develop the system-forming industries.

(73.3150 rubles – U.S. $1)

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