The Russian government will allocate another 8 billion rubles to support small and medium-sized businesses, as well as socially oriented non-profit organizations.

This was announced on Monday, August 2, by the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting with the Deputy Prime Ministers. 

Subsidies are primarily provided to businesses struggling amid restrictive measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Many of these entrepreneurs are still in a difficult situation.

In a number of regions, they remain, while in others new restrictions are introduced to more effectively work to combat the spread of coronavirus.

And in order to help entrepreneurs go through this difficult period, we will direct additional funds to support them, ”Mishustin emphasized. 

As the Prime Minister specified, in order to receive the money, companies must fill out an application for a short-term grant and send it to the tax service. At the same time, an entrepreneur can send an application through the taxpayer's personal account. 

Earlier, the details of additional measures to support small and medium-sized businesses were disclosed by the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov. During a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and members of the government, the head of the department explained that the amount of direct financial assistance will be calculated based on the timing of the restrictions due to which the enterprise temporarily ceased operations. So, for two weeks of downtime, the state will charge half of the minimum wage (minimum wage) for each employee. With the extension of the terms of restrictions, the amount of payments to companies will be proportionally increased up to one minimum wage per employee.  

"Depending on the local situation, these can be enterprises from the culture and recreation industry, catering, trade, hotel business, transport companies and (providing -

RT

) consumer services," Reshetnikov noted. 

State subsidies will allow companies not only to survive the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to maintain production capacity at the proper level.

Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, NRU HSE, spoke about this in an interview with RT.

According to him, it was small and medium-sized businesses that suffered the most serious losses during the lockdown period and need support.

“Now, even without significant restrictions, small enterprises need financing to renew their fixed assets and restart their activities, since modernization contributes to the growth of production. Thus, the government helps to keep afloat the firms that are experiencing difficulties so that they do not go bankrupt and leave the market, ”the expert added. 

At the same time, financing socially oriented non-profit organizations allows us to preserve companies that perform important humanitarian and educational tasks, says Artyom Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets.

As the expert emphasized, this group includes charitable and social funds, whose work is not related to making a profit, but is aimed at improving the standard of living of people with disabilities, low-income citizens, large families, orphans and single mothers. 

"If the state supports such organizations, it means that citizens, who are especially vulnerable categories of the population, will continue to receive help from volunteers," said the interlocutor of RT. 

  • © RIA Novosti / Maxim Bogodvid

According to analysts, financial grants to companies should also accelerate the pace of recovery of the labor market from the effects of the pandemic. According to Rosstat, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, from January to August 2020, the share of unemployed citizens of working age increased from 4.7% to 6.4% - the highest level in eight years. However, in December this value dropped to 5.9%, and in June 2021 it was 4.8%.

“The allocated funds will help firms and small organizations to retain staff and maintain the level of employment.

People will still be able to work and get paid, which will have a positive impact on consumer demand.

New measures to support business will be a positive moment for the recovery of the country's economy this year, "Pavel Sigal, first vice president of the all-Russian public organization for small and medium-sized businesses" Support of Russia ", told RT.

According to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, in June 2021, the country's GDP reached the pre-pandemic level.

By the end of the year, the growth of the Russian economy should be about 4%.

This assessment was voiced earlier by Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.

As Georgy Ostapkovich noted, an increase in GDP growth may occur due to an increase in the production of goods and services against the background of a decrease in the number of COVID-19 infected in the country. 

“Much will depend on the route of the pandemic.

If you can defeat the virus and remove all restrictions, then enterprises will quickly increase profits.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance, if necessary, can help the business with additional subsidies, ”the expert concluded.