During the first week after the launch of the updated business support program "FOT 3.0", Russian companies submitted about 16.5 thousand applications for soft loans.

Such data on Thursday, November 11, was presented by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

According to the agency's assessment, today enterprises expect to receive more than 71 billion rubles from banks.

At the same time, the credit institutions themselves, in anticipation of new applications, plan to provide loans to businesses totaling 75.5 billion rubles.

“Most of this volume is for micro and small businesses.

The subsidies allocated by the state for the implementation of the program will allow businesses to receive soft loans at 3% per annum, ”the Ministry of Economic Development said.

Recall that the Russian government at the end of October decided to resume and expand the "FOT 3.0" program.

Businesses have an opportunity to receive loans at a reduced rate again since November 1.

In turn, banks began to accept applications in advance, which has already allowed entrepreneurs to issue about 1 billion rubles.

Companies can get a loan on concessional terms until December 30.

It is assumed that the funds received by the company will be used to pay salaries to their employees.

According to the latest estimates of the Ministry of Economic Development, now we are talking about 465 thousand employees of small and medium-sized businesses.

In addition, the money can be used to pay rent and tax payments.

Note that the amount of the loan depends on the number of employees of the company and is calculated based on one minimum wage (about 12.8 thousand rubles in 2021) for each employee for 12 months.

The total loan amount should not exceed 300 million rubles, and the loan itself is 75% secured by guarantees of the state corporation VEB.RF.

“The experience of the past year has shown that, having received money from the state, companies can actually keep personnel in their workplaces.

The measure is very much in demand by businesses, which often simply do not have a financial cushion left, because due to the interruption of activities or work in a limited mode, they do not have enough funds to pay salaries, "Artyom Deev, head of the analytical department of AMarkets, explained in an interview with RT.

After receiving a loan, companies may not pay interest and principal for six months.

Further, within 12 months, the business will have to repay the loan in equal installments.

As previously noted in the government, only organizations that have previously participated in the preferential programs "FOT 2.0" and "FOT 3.0" or were created from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021, can apply for a loan.

The main condition for obtaining a loan is to maintain the number of employees at a level of at least 90% of the state.

The authorities will monitor this indicator through data from the Federal Tax Service (FTS).

“The“ FOT 3.0 ”program was a continuation of the successful“ FOT 2.0 ”, which gave a good account of itself last year.

Then it was used by entrepreneurs from various industries, including those most affected by the crisis.

We are talking, for example, about the sphere of leisure, tourism and catering, beauty salons, as well as other SMEs, "Pavel Sigal, first vice president of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses" Support of Russia ", said in a conversation with RT.

According to him, it was the hardest for such companies to work in 2020.

Moreover, now not all enterprises have the opportunity to provide services remotely, so businesses are actively using the new program, Segal emphasized.

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In addition to concessional loans, the government previously agreed on a program of one-time payments to small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as socially oriented non-profit organizations (NPOs).

According to the initiative, representatives of the most affected industries will be able to receive special grants at the rate of one minimum wage for each employee.

In total, the authorities allocated 38.5 billion rubles for these purposes.

According to the Federal Tax Service, to date, 204,000 enterprises with a total of 1.3 million employees have already applied for grants.

The total amount of payments on current applications should amount to 16.7 billion rubles.

It is expected that the transfer of funds to organizations will begin on November 15.

“The support allows businesses to reduce their financial burden and retain their staff.

Trained staff, loyal to the employer, get involved faster after the restrictions are lifted.

This helps the business to recover as soon as possible after a difficult period, ”concluded Pavel Sigal.