Deputies of the Kazan City Duma discussed the implementation of a program to support small and medium-sized business

Deputies and guests discussed programs of preferential loans and preferential rental of premises at the expanded meeting.

(KZN.RU, October 12, Alena Miroshnichenko). At the expanded meeting, deputies of the Kazan City Duma of standing commission on social and economic development, entrepreneurship and municipal property and on budget and financial issues, local taxes and fees discussed the implementation of a program to support small and medium-sized business in the city for 2017-2019, including the programs of preferential loans and preferential rental of premises.

The meeting was also attended by Marat Galeev, the chairman of the State Council Committee on Economy, Investments and Entrepreneurship, Ildar Shakirov, the deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee, Artur Valiakhmetov, the chairman of the Economic Development Committee of Kazan, Tatiana Kozlovskaya, the first deputy chairperson of the Committee of Land and Property Relations of Kazan, Daria Sannikova, the director of the Tourism Promotion Committee, representatives of public organizations, as well as representatives operator banks of the municipal program of concessional lending in 2018.

Artur Valiakhmetov said the audience that as of the second quarter of 2018, 80877 small and medium-sized businesses were registered in Kazan. Compared to the same period last year, their number increased by 2%. He marked that the lack of financial resources is one of the most serious constraints to the development of entrepreneurial activity. The program of concessional lending, which has been implemented in Kazan for 10 years, is designed to solve this problem. In 2018, entrepreneurs who carry out activities in priority areas receive a loan of up to 10 million rubles for a period of up to 3 and up to 5 years at an interest rate from 10.25% to 10.5%. At the same time, the municipality compensates entrepreneurs who carry out activities in priority areas 6% of the selected rate during the first two years of the loan agreement. In the case of high-priority activities, the compensation will also be 6%, but the compensation period will increase to three years.

In the framework of the program, 39 loans were issued totaling 274.28 million rubles in 2017. 74 small and medium-sized businesses became received the support. They were paid a subsidy totaling 24.2 million rubles.

In 2018, banks issued 13 loans totaling about 100 million rubles. The total number of subjects of support for this year was 78 organizations totaling 12.6 million rubles. The issuance of loans will continue until the end of this year.

In the program “Rental holidays,” entrepreneurs are provided with municipal property for rental use for 5 years on preferential terms. For the first 2 years, they are fully exempted from rent, the third year is paid of 25%, the fourth year – 50%, the fifth year – 75% of the annual rent.

The list of property provided by the program includes 109 objects of municipal real estate. From the beginning of the project, 102 premises with a total area of 16.1 thousand square meters were put up for auction. Lease agreements have been concluded for 57 premises of these with a total area of 7.8 thousand square meters.

The deputies conveyed to the representatives of the Kazan Executive Committee those proposals and conclusions that were drawn up during the meeting on October 3. Deputy Bulat Kutdusov addressed his colleagues with an offer to expand the program of preferential crediting and to give its participants an opportunity to qualify for a loan larger than 10 million rubles.

The deputies also discussed issues of guarantees for the credit obligations of organizations from the city, the provision of tax incentives to industrial parks, the organization of meetings of representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the districts, and much more.

After hearing the reports and discussions, Marat Galeev noted the importance and the need to support entrepreneurship. “It was interesting to listen. There are dynamics. Small and medium businesses live, but there are also quite a lot of problems. Intangible factors in the form of trust in the government turn into a particular and very important resource in the economy”, he said, urging his colleagues to strengthen work in this area.

As a result of the meeting, it was decided that representatives of the Executive Committee should take note of all the proposals and comments of deputies and take the necessary measures to implement the program in full.