03 June 2004 05:25
Small business pays to 10,000 rubles a year in brides per employee -
MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - Small enterprises in Russia have to pay
up to 10,000 rubles in bribes per employee a year, president of the
organization OPORA of Russia Sergei Borisov announced at the
OPORA
international conference Corporate Governance and Economic Growth in Russia on Thursday.
Interaction with various state oversight and regulatory agencies takes up to 7% of small business bosses' work
time, Borisov reported. Some bureaucrats use their positions to exert pressure on businessmen with the aim of getting
money illegally. The organization that most "interferes with businessmen's work" is the police, he said.
Only 2% of businessmen refuse to pay bribes.
Borisov noted that small business employs 17% of the population and that there are 870,000 small businesses in Russia
now. That number has not grown since 1994, and this reflects people's lack of desire to work in this area of
business because of bureaucratic pressures and the threat of corruption. The "gray" portion of small business
represents 20% of gross domestic product, Borisov reported, while the official numbers put small business at 11% of GDP.
In developed countries, he said, small business sometimes represents more than 50% of GDP, and the number of people
employed thereby can reach 70% of the population. [RU EUROPE EEU ASIA EMRG ECI CORA CRIM] cf
[Interfax] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
