The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan told in detail about existing and additional business support programs
A press conference dedicated to additional and existing support measures during the period of restrictive measures was held in Tatar-inform today. The event was attended by First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustem Sibgatullin, as well as heads of subordinate organizations of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan - Director General of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan Aidar Salikhov, Director of the Guarantee Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustem Mukhamedshin.
The First Deputy Minister of Economy Rustem Sibgatullin opened the conference. In his report, he elaborated on the conditions and mechanism for submitting applications for federal support programs – these are grants in the amount of the minimum wage and the resumption of the PHOT 3.0 program aimed at helping SMEs and SONKO from affected industries.
Under the grant payment program, the recipients are SMEs and SONKO from the industries most affected by the effects of the coronavirus, a total of 21 types of activity. Gratuitous support will allow the business to pay salaries to employees. At the same time, the grant amount is determined depending on the number of employees - based on 1 minimum wage per 1 employed person, including the individual entrepreneur himself. It is important that the business will be exempt from taxes from the grants received. And if an entrepreneur decides to send a grant to pay salaries to his employees, he will not have to pay personal income tax and insurance premiums for the amount of the grant. The deadline for submitting applications begins today (November 1) and will continue until December 15 of this year.
The second federal program is the extension of concessional lending at 3% FT 3.0. Applications for this program are also being accepted, starting today, and will last until December 30, the loan is provided for any business purposes. The loan amount is calculated based on 1 (one) minimum wage, per 1 (one) employed, multiplied by 12 months. The loan term is 18 months, including a delay in the payment of interest and the loan body for 6 months, the so-called grace period, after which the loan repayment period will be 12 months.
Rustem Sibgatullin identified three categories of recipients of a preferential loan:
- entrepreneurs-participants of the FOT 2.0 or FOT 3.0 programs;
- SONKO participants of FOT 2.0 or FOT 3.0 included in the register of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation;
- SMEs created from July 1, 2020.
More than 30 Russian banks participate in the program, 15 of them are represented in Tatarstan.
An important condition for the preservation of preferential conditions under FOT 3.0 is the preservation of at least 90% of the number of employees fixed in the loan agreement. If an enterprise violates the condition of maintaining the number of employees, it is automatically excluded from the program and begins to pay the full market rate, which will be about 10% per annum. The FOT 3.0 program includes 17 types of activities.
Rustem Sibgatullin noted that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to credit and microfinance organizations, in order to provide financial support to SMEs, as well as self-employed citizens, it is recommended to restructure previously issued loans and microloans, including previously restructured debt, and not to charge borrowers a penalty, fines, penalties. Applications for restructuring have been accepted from today and will last until December 31, 2021. More information about the programs and their conditions can be found in the presentation.
"Given the conditions of federal programs, including their targeting on the affected categories of business, at the national level we additionally decided to support the uncovered categories of business, and this is mainly trade, for which we record the majority of applications," - concluded the speaker at the transition to the national measures of support.
For these areas, as well as for those SMEs that operate in industries that have fallen under republican restrictions and are not included in Federal support programs, the Ministry of Economy has resumed issuing a "One percent" microloan, which demonstrated high demand in 2020-the pandemic year.
In more detail, on the terms of a "One percent" microloan, the Director General of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund subordinate to the Ministry of Economy Aidar Salikhov shared in his report. Acceptance of applications for a "One-percent" microloan in the same way with federal programs starts on November 1 and will last until December 31 of this year. The loan is provided in the amount of 300 thousand to 1 million rubles for any purpose justified by borrowers at 1% per annum, subject to the preservation of 90% of the number of jobs as of October 1, 2021, if this condition is not met, the rate increases to the key rate of the Bank of Russia at the time of signing the microloan agreement. The loan term is from 3 to 24 months.
To support self-employed citizens, the conditions of a specialized product - the micro-loan "Self-employed" have been changed. So, previously, individuals registered as payers of professional income tax for 6 months could apply for preferential financing, from November 1, the registration period is from 1 month.
The remaining conditions remain unchanged: up to two years, from 50 to 500 thousand rubles, from ½ of the key rate of the Bank of Russia to 5.5% per annum for any business purposes. It is possible to postpone the payment of the principal debt for up to 6 months. A micro loan of up to 100 thousand rubles is issued without collateral.
Also, Aidar Salikhov spoke in detail about other comprehensive business support implemented by the Fund. We are talking about financial and non-financial programs such as providing additional markets and sales channels and support for entrepreneurs in entering electronic trading platforms, Russian and international. Business services for accounting and tax accounting, preparation and submission of reports, as well as personnel administration, analysis of the state of the accounting base and restoration of accounting for previous periods.
The speaker also focused on educational support measures - trainings, master classes, webinars for both novice entrepreneurs and existing ones. For example, now there is a recruitment of participants from among young entrepreneurs up to 1 year old for the online program "Scaling business through a franchise". Detailed information about the programs implemented by the Foundation can be found in the presentation.
The Director of the Guarantee Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustem Mukhamedshin concluded the conference with a report on the guarantee support of business. In connection with the introduction of new measures to prevent the spread of COVID—19 in the Republic of Tatarstan, the Guarantee Fund launched two special preferential products for entrepreneurs whose activities are limited by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan No. 208 of March 19, 2020.
The first is the warranty product "Support 2021". The maximum amount of the Guarantee Fund's guarantee is up to 50 million rubles. The remuneration rate for this product has been reduced by 2 times (compared to the standard one) - up to 0.5%, and it is also possible to defer payment of remuneration for 6 months.
The second product is intended for those entrepreneurs who, for some reason, cannot make payments under loan agreements. The guarantee product "Restructuring" allows you to restructure the debt. The conditions for this product are similar.
In total, 1.2 billion rubles were allocated for state support of SMEs in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2021, and taking into account the existing capitalization of structures subordinate to the Ministry of Economy, the total amount of support is 3.56 billion rubles. For all SMEs and self-employed citizens, financial and non-financial support measures are available, including guarantees, microloans, loans, comprehensive services for entering marketplaces, product promotion, participation in exhibitions, bookkeeping.