Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed extending the preferential mortgage program for one more year.

The head of state made such an initiative at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“I propose to extend this program for all regions of Russia for one more year, until July 1 next year.

But at the same time, we will slightly raise the rate itself.

Some changes will be made, namely, we will set the rate on preferential mortgages at 7%, and the maximum loan amount will need to be made the same for all regions of the Russian Federation at 3 million rubles, ”Putin said.

Recall that in April 2020, Russians were able to get a loan at a preferential rate of 6.5%.

Initially, the initiative was designed for almost six months, but later the government extended its action until July 1, 2021.

You can get a loan at a reduced rate when buying apartments in new buildings worth up to 12 million rubles in the Moscow and St. Petersburg agglomerations, as well as up to 6 million rubles in other regions of the country.

According to Vladimir Putin, the program has become one of the key anti-crisis measures to support citizens and the economy during a pandemic.

More than 500 thousand families took advantage of the initiative, and housing construction attracted over 2 trillion rubles.

“The program was of an anti-crisis and, therefore, temporary nature.

At the same time, it should not be abruptly cut off, it must not be folded.

We must take into account the important role that preferential mortgages play in the current situation for solving the housing problems of our citizens and for the development of the construction industry, which, as we know, is a locomotive for related industries, ”the Russian leader emphasized.

Note that earlier the authorities considered the possibility of extending preferential mortgages only in those regions where there was no explosive growth in real estate prices and there is the necessary volume of housing supply.

This, in particular, was stated by the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina.

Meanwhile, the initiative proposed by the president looks more fair, says Konstantin Aprelev, vice president of the Russian Guild of Realtors.

“The authorities nevertheless decided not to limit the program by regions.

At the same time, a decrease in the maximum loan amount to 3 million rubles makes the conditions of the initiative the same for all regions of the country.

From the point of view of the principle of social justice, this is correct.

The regions where the value of real estate is the highest will not receive full-scale support.

Such a decision will help to slightly lower both the demand for housing and prices in the country, ”Aprelev said in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, the program will continue to stimulate the purchase of finished housing in Russia, the specialist is sure.

As a result, according to him, the scale of construction will have to increase.

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  • © Ivanko Igor

Vladimir Putin also announced the expansion of the family mortgage program.

As the head of state recalled, at the moment, families with two or more children born after January 1, 2018 can get a home loan at a reduced rate of 6% per annum.

The President proposed extending the initiative to parents with one child born after January 1, 2018.

“Already at the birth of their first child, the family will be able to take out a mortgage at a rate of 6%, buy a house on the primary market or refinance a previously taken mortgage loan.

The maximum amount of such a loan for Moscow and St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions, where the cost of real estate is objectively higher, will be 12 million rubles, and 6 million rubles - for all other subjects of the Federation, ”Putin explained.

According to Konstantin Aprelev, the innovation may have a positive effect not only on Russians, but also on the real estate market as a whole.

As the specialist explained, the initiative will significantly expand the circle of potential buyers of real estate who can improve their living conditions.

To Russia for the vaccine

During his speech, Vladimir Putin instructed the government to work out the issue of paid vaccination of foreigners in Russia by the end of June.

As the President noted, the domestic pharmaceutical industry is ready to increase the production of drugs for COVID-19.

In these conditions, the country can not only fully meet its own needs, but also provide an opportunity for citizens from abroad to get vaccinated.

“I know that, given the effectiveness of our vaccines, this demand is quite high.

Moreover, the practice has become widespread when people from different countries, including businessmen, heads of large European and other companies, specially visit Russia to get vaccinated against coronavirus, ”the head of state emphasized.

As the vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Dmitry Gorin told RT, at the moment such medical tours can only be organized for citizens with Russian citizenship or a residence permit in the country.

At the same time, the demand for such trips from foreigners is steadily growing, the specialist noted.

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  • © Sergey Kiselev

“Our foreign clients express confidence in the Russian vaccine and do not doubt its effectiveness.

If the initiative to conduct paid vaccination for foreigners comes into force, then tour operators will be able to quickly organize group tours.

This will allow restarting the flow of inbound tourism to Russia, which is now seriously limited due to the partial closure of borders, ”Gorin said.

According to the expert, in the "vaccine" tourism may be interested primarily in the neighboring countries of Russia, as well as a number of countries in Europe and Latin America.

For youth and business

According to Vladimir Putin, at the moment the Russian economy and labor market are approaching pre-crisis indicators.

In many ways, this became possible due to timely anti-crisis measures, the president is sure.

“We have managed to save millions of jobs and avoid a sharp drop in citizens' incomes.

Yes, there are problems here: unemployment has increased and real incomes have fallen - we all know this.

But nothing happened that we could call some kind of catastrophe, which, in principle, in such conditions in which we lived, it was quite possible.

We have avoided all this, ”the head of state emphasized.

As the Russian leader noted, today in Russia there are still difficulties in the labor market.

First of all, we are talking about a relatively high level of unemployment among young people.

Against this background, Putin instructed the government to launch a permanent youth employment support program in the near future.

At the same time, the President proposed to launch a new mechanism to support lending to small and medium-sized businesses already in 2021.

The initiative implies the so-called umbrella provision of guarantees, Putin specified.

“We are talking about the following.

Our development institution, the SME Corporation, will issue guarantees for loans from partner banks.

In fact, it will take on some of the risks of small and medium-sized businesses, make loans more affordable for them, ”the head of state explained.

According to him, the program will allow entrepreneurs to attract at least 600 billion rubles until 2024.

Putin also proposed launching a pilot project to exempt companies operating in the catering sector from paying VAT, and zeroing the commission for small and medium-sized businesses in the fast payment system (FPS).

The fulfillment of the tasks set by the President will speed up the recovery of Russian business from the consequences of the pandemic.

This point of view, in an interview with RT, was expressed by Anna Bodrova, a senior analyst at the Alpari information and analytical center.

“Now the main thing is for the initiatives to reach their real implementation in an undistorted form, and this is very important.

Only the exemption of companies working in the catering sector from VAT would give the industry a colossal cash flow that can be directed to development.

In this case, both the economy and the entrepreneur will have a positive effect, ”the expert concluded.