“Leave - all the best”: Putin announced the huge losses of foreign companies who left Russia

The decision of many international companies to leave Russia resulted in significant financial losses for them.

This was announced on Thursday, February 9, by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the ANO Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects.

“Under pressure from their governments (foreign entrepreneurs. -

) they leave our market - all the best.

But because of the loss of our market, they suffer huge losses - this is their choice, this is their decision.

Many of them - I know this personally, I know some personally - do this without any pleasure, ”Putin said.

According to him, foreign organizations do not want to lose their well-established business, in which they "invested their soul" and money, but for political reasons they are forced to curtail their work.

At the same time, the outgoing brands leave behind a “good legacy” in the form of a production infrastructure and well-trained personnel, the head of state added.

“Probably, someone thought that we would immediately collapse and fall apart.

Nothing like this is happening… Our companies, our entrepreneurs are picking up these enterprises or even directions and continue this work, and very successfully.

It is important for us that our domestic manufacturer has received unique opportunities for development, and, of course, we need to take full advantage of this,” the Russian leader emphasized.

• RIA News

• © Mikhail Metzel

Recall that foreign companies began to massively announce their withdrawal from Russia in the spring of 2022.

This began after the Western states imposed large-scale sanctions against Moscow because of the events in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, no more than a quarter of all foreign brands present in the country actually left the Russian market.

This was previously stated by Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

“75.9% of foreign companies remained in Russia.

This decision speaks volumes: they believe in good prospects for the development of the economy of our country, they are satisfied with the business climate,” the speaker of the lower house of parliament stated.

It is noteworthy that only about 5% of foreign firms have completely stopped their work in Russia, while other organizations that have announced their departure only limit their activities or sell their assets to local entrepreneurs.

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, spoke about this in an interview with RT.

“Approximately 40-50% of companies made statements about leaving, but, in fact, almost all of them remain.

Either they change signs, or formally transfer this business into ownership to someone, but continue their activities.

Moreover, almost everyone declares that they will return to Russia after some time, ”Aksakov noted.

According to the latest estimates by the Center for Strategic Research (CSR), approximately 69% of companies that decided to leave Russia sold their local division to a new owner.

Moreover, at least 30% of such transactions provide for the possibility of returning assets to the original owner.

Under these conditions, for example, Renault and McDonald's left Russia.

At the same time, foreigners are forced to sell their business in Russia at significant discounts.

The average size of such a discount is about 70%, while the largest losses are incurred by enterprises in the oil and gas industry, the banking sector, as well as the automotive and food industries.

“Companies that have limited their activities or announced they are leaving the Russian market have already lost from $200 billion to $240 billion since the end of February 2022, of which $70 billion to $90 billion is accounted for by businesses that have decided to leave Russia.

Businesses from the US, UK and Germany report the largest losses in value terms.

No labor losses

According to the Center for Strategic Research, the new owners of the former divisions of foreign companies began to act quickly and by the beginning of September 2022, approximately 90% of such enterprises were able to resume work.

This made it possible to save about 150 thousand jobs.

Thus, according to the specialists of the Center for Strategic Research, on a national scale, the departure of foreign business did not have a devastating effect on the Russian economy, contrary to the statements of some foreign politicians.

A similar point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by the head of the laboratory for the analysis of institutions and financial markets of the Institute for Applied Economic Research of the RANEPA Alexander Abramov.

“There are certain difficulties, but they have not led to a paralysis of the economy.

In most cases, a good scheme worked: foreigners sold their businesses cheaply to Russian investors, and they keep the enterprises running and only replace brands.

This made it possible not to cut jobs and maintain the production of many goods.

Of course, the main question is whether the new owners will be able to further develop this business at the proper level.

However, almost a year has passed, and in general, companies are still working with dignity,” Abramov said.

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Suwat Supachavinswad / EyeEm

Initially, one of the main fears of the Russian authorities was precisely the possible increase in unemployment against the backdrop of the withdrawal of foreign business.

Nevertheless, these risks did not materialize in the end, says Deputy Minister of Economic Development Polina Kryuchkova.

“There was no mass exit of people to the labor exchange.

In fact, if you look at the total employment of companies that have harshly announced their resignation, it is, let's say, large, but not critical for the economy, ”TASS quotes Kryuchkova.

According to her, Russian companies are now taking the place of Western companies.

As a result, if at the end of 2021 the unemployment rate in Russia was 4.3%, then by the end of 2022 the figure dropped to 3.7%, the lowest level in the entire post-Soviet period.

This is evidenced by the materials of the Federal State Statistics Service.

Working replacement

According to Vyacheslav Volodin, today Russian companies are not only successfully replacing departed Western competitors, but are also increasing production volumes.

For example, the production of clothing in the country grew by 42%, and medicines - by 15%, the speaker of the State Duma noted.

According to Alexander Abramov, today not all industries have the opportunity to completely replace the departed Western brands with Russian products.

As a result, free niches in the market are beginning to be occupied by companies from friendly countries.

In particular, such a situation can be observed today in the automotive industry, where the presence of Chinese foreign cars is growing.

“New companies come to us cautiously and with an eye to the fact that they are not subject to secondary sanctions.

We are talking, for example, about entrepreneurs from China or the Middle East.

This trend will continue, but the process will take some time.

So far, many investors are mainly only looking at our market, and we have yet to establish communication with them,” Abramov said.

Under the current conditions, the authorities should provide additional support to local businesses, Vladimir Putin believes.

In his opinion, it is necessary to build a system for selecting and promoting promising Russian brands so that companies can further increase production capacity, as well as the sale of their products.

“Together we will be able to create conditions so that goods, services, products made in Russia become the subject of our national pride... I have no doubt: the potential for the development of domestic business is simply colossal.

We need to support it in all areas, including in innovative areas,” Putin stressed.