30 January 2004 12:30
Russia: State support for business doubles but still not enough says minister
Moscow, 30 January: Last year, state financing for the development of small business in Russia almost doubled
compared with the previous period and amounted to R300m, Russian Minister for Antimonopoly Policy [and Enterprise
Support] Ilya Yuzhanov said at a meeting today. According to him, for the period after 1998 this figure was a
"record" one but "still not enough to guarantee the economic development of small business".
In 2003, the minister recalled, "the government adopted a programme of support for small business through a
mechanism of state guarantees", Yuzhanov said. This promising system, the minister said, received an appropriate
reflection in the 2004 federal budget which set the state limit of state guarantees at R3bn. At the same time, Yuzhanov
said, the ministry will "attract regional banks to providing credits to small businesses on preferential
conditions". According to the minister, "the Russian Development Bank has been chosen as a state agent to
distribute money to the regions".
According to experts, small business in Russia is not sufficiently developed, amounting to only 5 per cent of
Russia's GDP while in Europe the figure is more than 60 per cent.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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