The Russian government has decided to extend the moratorium on scheduled inspections of small and medium-sized businesses until 2022.

This was announced on Wednesday, September 8, by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a speech at the plenary session of the Moscow Financial Forum.

“The head of state supported this idea.

Now we are preparing a government decree.

The moratorium will affect about 100 thousand small businesses, ”Mishustin said.

The prime minister recalled that the authorities helped businesses cope with the negative impact of the coronavirus, supported various industries, as well as small and strategic enterprises.

At the same time, the country's leadership took measures to create favorable conditions in the markets, including energy markets, and reduced the administrative burden by limiting the number of inspections, the head of the Cabinet added.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian government in April 2020 banned inspections of small and medium-sized businesses until December 31.

And in November, the authorities decided to extend the moratorium until the end of 2021.

This initiative has become one of the important anti-crisis measures to support the economy during a pandemic.

This point of view, in an interview with RT, was expressed by Pavel Sigal, the first vice president of the all-Russian public organization for small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia".

“In an extreme situation, when many industries had a hard time, the state considered it superfluous to create an additional burden in the form of inspections.

After all, there can be many such events - from checking compliance with sanitary rules to the law on consumer rights.

Business has to be distracted, involve all the personnel, and this is a certain stress, which can later result in financial losses in the form of fines, ”Sigal said.

According to him, now it is still difficult for Russian enterprises in various sectors to restore their activities in full.

In this regard, the government considered it necessary to extend the moratorium for next year, the expert emphasized.

“This measure will allow Russian business to concentrate on returning to previous levels of profit and revenue.

Enterprises will be able to engage in expansion of directions, more closely, without being distracted by inspections, to deal with the problems of consumer demand and preservation of turnover, ”the specialist added.

Recovery phase

At the same time, as Mikhail Mishustin noted, the Russian economy recovered to pre-crisis levels already in June 2021: the country's gross domestic product reached pre-pandemic levels.

“According to preliminary estimates of Rosstat, in the first half of the year the volume of GDP grew by 4.8%.

This rate significantly exceeds the level that we carefully laid down in the National Plan a year ago, ”the head of the Cabinet of Ministers stressed.

According to Mishustin, today the output of products in key non-resource sectors, primarily in the manufacturing industry, exceeds pre-crisis values.

At the same time, indicators are growing in the field of housing and road construction.

Consumer demand is also returning to its previous values, and the unemployment rate has already dropped to 4.5% - the lowest level since September 2019.

“Investment demand has also become a key driver for improving the situation in the economy this year.

In the first half of the year, the growth of investments in fixed assets (compared to the same period last year) exceeded 7%, ”the Prime Minister added.

  • Mikhail Mishustin speaks at the plenary session "Russian Economy and Financial Markets: Sustainable Development in a Changing World" of the Moscow Financial Forum

  • RIA News

  • © Dmitry Astakhov

As the presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin said during his speech at the forum, Russia has chosen the optimal volume, size and structure of support for the economy.

In his opinion, this is what made it possible for a little more than a year to restore financial activity in the country.

Oreshkin also noted the positive effect of the prompt connection of budget incentives through lending support and direct payments to citizens.

“What are the main things that pulled the Russian economy out?

The first is a program for preferential mortgages.

The second is direct payments to citizens and businesses, the decision on which the president made last year, although there were rather fierce discussions, "Oreshkin said.

According to the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, by the end of 2021, Russia's GDP will be assimilated by at least 4.2%.

Growth is expected to be the highest in a decade, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.

In the coming years, the country's economic growth will remain close to 3%, depending on the rate of development of the investment cycle, Reshetnikov said.

“Our forecast (3% growth in 2022) is generally clear and confirmed.

But in 2023 and 2024, maintaining the rate of 3% directly depends on the unwinding of the new investment flywheel, "Reshetnikov noted during the plenary session.

Issue price

The participants in the discussion also touched upon the problem of inflation.

According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, against the backdrop of a worldwide rise in prices, the state needs to control the situation with the rise in prices for goods for Russians.

For this, in particular, the government has already adopted a number of initiatives, including export duties and a damper, the minister recalled.

At the same time, Siluanov drew attention to the increased profits of exporters amid rising world prices.

The head of the Ministry of Finance urged companies to send some of these funds to help the Russians affected by the pandemic.

“Those exporters, traditional exporters who have received additional income from price increases today, should share.

We need to use this money to support citizens, ”Siluanov said.

He also stressed that 700 billion rubles allocated from additional income had already been directed to payments to citizens.

We are talking about supporting pensioners, military personnel and children.

  • Finance Minister of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov

  • RIA News

  • © Grigory Sysoev

In an exclusive interview with RT on the sidelines of the forum, Anton Siluanov said that now Russia, together with the G20 countries, is discussing measures to get the global economy out of the crisis.

Most countries have already begun to phase out support measures, he said.

At the same time, some governments continue to stimulate policies by pumping printed money into their financial systems.

Such actions risk turning into an increase in the debt burden of these states, as well as the acceleration of inflation in the world, the head of the Ministry of Finance emphasized.

At the same time, Russia comes to balanced measures of budgetary policy, noted Siluanov.

According to him, the country is creating financial buffers that will allow the state to meet its objectives and fully fulfill its social obligations, regardless of external conditions.

  • Anton Siluanov on measures of budgetary policy