Rustam Minnikhanov: One of the main tasks for today is the preservation of production and jobs

On March 12, at the Government House of the republic, speaking at a regular meeting, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that at the current stage the main task of the authorities at all levels is addressing socio-economic challenges under sanctions.

Minnikhanov emphasized that a number of measures are being taken at the federal and regional levels to support the economic sectors and SME entities, the development of new logistics and production chains and the expansion of import substitution.

Tatarstan President named the preservation of production facilities and jobs one of the main tasks. It is also necessary to ensure food security and prevent shortages of medicines, medical devices and non-food essentials.

It is necessary to support citizens, including families with children, as well as other vulnerable categories. Minnikhanov instructed to pay special attention to curbing unreasonable price increases.

Deputy Prime Minister of the republic, Tatarstan Minister of Economy Midkhat Shagiakhmetov reported on measures to ensure sustainable development of the regional economy. He said that the monitoring of the availability of essential goods is carried out on a daily basis. Deliveries of goods to stores and distribution centres are carried out on a regular basis. Distribution centre stocks are sufficient to meet demand, ranging from one to two months.

To ensure the uninterrupted operation of bakery enterprises and the needs of the social sphere, a reserve fund for sugar and flour has been established in the republic. Trading facilities are operating normally and are provided with essential goods. In order to avoid speculation, a number of retail chains have introduced restrictions on the purchase of certain goods per customer.

Addressing the leadership of regions and line ministries, Shagiakhmetov urged for a rapid response to rising prices and the availability of commodities. If necessary, contact the relevant Federal Antimonopoly Service authorities in Tatarstan.

According to the Minister, one of the priorities for today is a stable situation in the labor market. As of 11 March this year, the number of registered unemployed is 10 thousand 114 people.

The import substitution of components previously imported from the sanctions countries is of critical importance. Here work should be carried out simultaneously in a number of areas. This is the organization of deliveries from other countries and interregional cooperation. The most important direction is the organization of production on the territory of the republic. The Government provides additional funds for the Industrial Development Fund. Soft loans will also be available to launch products already under development.

For the strategic organizations included in the list of the Russian Federation, such support measures as state guarantees necessary for restructuring of loans or obtaining new ones, as well as subsidies for cost recovery have been resumed. As many as 31 organizations are included in the federal list of strategic enterprises from the republic.

In addition to the federal one, the republic has approved a regional list of strategic organizations, which includes 309 enterprises. “Line ministries and municipalities need to work out further action plans with each enterprise depending on possible risks,” Shagiakhmetov said.

In order to prevent the disruption of the sowing campaign, Russian Government adopted a number of decisions to support farmers. This includes deferred payments on soft loans, the allocation of 30 billion roubles for supporting the programme of preferential lending to agricultural producers, 12 billion roubles for supporting the programme of preferential leasing of agricultural equipment and 2.5 billion roubles for Russian bakers.

At the federal level, a set of measures were adopted to help the IT industry. It includes the exemption of all core companies from paying income tax and inspections by regulatory authorities. Only accredited IT companies can count on support. There are 243 out of 3,000 such organizations in the republic. To increase the coverage of support measures, Russian Ministry of Digital Development should inform all IT organizations how to get accreditation in the Ministry.

The tourism industry will also receive preferences. It is planned to cancel the value added tax for those market participants who build, lease and manage tourist facilities.

The adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises to new conditions and the maintenance of the number of people employed in small businesses and self-employed citizens are the most important tasks for increasing economic resilience. Under the federal anti-crisis support package, a number of regulatory documents to support entrepreneurship have been adopted this week.

For small and medium-sized businesses, the SME Corporation together with the Central Bank of Russia will launch preferential lending programmes. At the same time, under the anti-crisis package at the regional level, taking into account the needs of business, a list of support measures has also been developed.