The Russian government is stepping up assistance to Russian business and citizens who have suffered from the coronavirus epidemic or find themselves in an extremely vulnerable position against its background. Yesterday, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who left now in connection with the discovery of a self-isolation coronavirus, announced at the government meeting new support measures. This program is constantly expanding, taking into account those specific and not always visible to the naked eye crisis situations in which Russians and various segments of the economy find themselves. Now the coverage of a wide variety of circumstances is becoming even more widespread.
This work is carried out in close cooperation with the State Duma of Russia, which is urgently developing relevant bills. In April, the lower house of parliament passed a series of laws whose goal is to provide large-scale support to all who are in dire need of it today. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, spoke in detail about what has been done throughout the past month: “These include laws on the benefits that enterprises will receive if they purchase medical products, masks, drugs, and provide assistance in treatment of their employees, on credit holidays, on exemption from personal income tax of additional cash payments to health workers, on the remote sale of medicines, on amendments to the Budget Code that will allow the subjects of the Russian Federation to distribute the feeder more flexibly full support, assistance to enterprises, and many other laws. ”
The efforts of the cabinet and the activities of the deputies are fully synchronized, because in the absence of a legislative framework, the government is shackled hand and foot. Accordingly, each government decision is based on the work of lawmakers, which is not always visible to the naked eye. The first item from the package submitted by Mishustin is related to Russian citizens abroad. Many of them lost their jobs and are unable to return to their homeland due to closed borders. Those who are left without a livelihood will receive financial assistance to pay for housing, meals and visa extensions. This support measure is fully consistent with the principle of human savings, which was repeatedly proclaimed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition, it should be noted that the Russians abroad are in some way a showcase of Russia. Being left to their own devices, such people would become living evidence of the indifference of the Russian authorities to the fates of their own citizens, who were in a difficult situation.
Housing developers and deceived equity holders are another expense item. The former need to provide loans to continue construction, but in the face of a catastrophic drop in business activity and a decrease in citizens' incomes, home sales are declining, and therefore it is extremely difficult or impossible to repay interest on bank loans. The problem of deceived equity holders has a long history, dating back to the Yeltsin period. During the epidemic, people in a desperate situation, left without a roof over their heads, urgently need the help of the state. Most of them poke around in rented apartments, spending a significant portion of their income on rent. Developers allocated 12 billion rubles, equity holders - 30 billion.
The Industrial Development Fund will receive 15 billion rubles, small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to count on obtaining soft microloans and restructuring their debts.
By themselves, these decisions do not seem revolutionary, but it should be borne in mind that they only complement the already developed scope of measures to support all types of business.
And by the way, if earlier it was about helping small and medium-sized businesses, now the government is actively supporting some types of large and system-forming enterprises. It is not possible to provide a complete list of steps taken and allocated funds, since listing them would require a brochure.
Actually, the president announced the majority in his appeals in connection with the epidemic. In addition, he instructed the government to develop a nationwide plan to restore the country's economy. This program will be ready by May 25th. So the decisions promulgated by Mikhail Mishustin can be considered the prologue of a much grander project with an even wider coverage of the entire economic sphere of Russia.
Two items close the list: private medical organizations will be allocated 577 million rubles to help older people (a pilot project in nine regions, the participation of private medical institutions in the treatment of COVID-19 will be expanded). It is easy to guess that we are talking about involving a private medical business in the fight against the epidemic. For ordinary people, expensive treatment in such clinics and hospitals can not afford. The state will cover the cost of medical services in order to increase the number of reserves attracted to counter the coronavirus.
April turned out to be a very busy month for both the government and lawmakers. I will once again refer to Vyacheslav Volodin, who noted the work of the budget and taxes committee, which dealt with bills on the exemption from taxation of additional payments to medical workers struggling with coronavirus, on the possibility of extending the institution of self-employed throughout the country, and on reducing the size of insurance contributions for SMEs. In addition, a plenary meeting was announced at which new bills will be adopted that will help people survive a very difficult period of time.
At the request of the Chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina, the State Duma will accelerate work on bills that simplify the remote provision of banking services, expanding the list of operations that are available through biometrics, and documents that will help in the fight against cyber fraud. In addition, it was about initiatives that expand the deposit insurance system and direct business support and allow the acquisition of OSAGO without inspection.
The liberal public, which traditionally questions or completely rejects the effectiveness of measures taken to support business and citizens, sometimes finds itself in vulnerable points, but it does not want to notice the main point. The process is in constant dynamics. It is possible to take into account all aspects, of which there are thousands and thousands, only by carefully monitoring which solutions work, which ones slip, identifying new categories and groups of people in need. Yesterday's meeting of the government and the list of laws adopted by the State Duma is just an episode in the ongoing work that is being carried out day and night. The president, parliament and government are making every effort to prevent catastrophe.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.