“In 2009, we allowed the regions to introduce tax breaks for small businesses and drastically increased the range of companies that can use the simplified taxation system. We have also allowed many self-employed businesspeople to forgo the use of cash registers. This year there are plans to expand the use of the tax patent system and to allow small businesses to purchase the state and municipal property they are leasing…. Small and medium businesses also receive additional direct budgetary support each year. Ten billion roubles have already been allocated for this purpose in 2010. We also plan to add another six billion roubles from the Anti-Crisis Fund. I am confident that these measures are already yielding tangible results.”
“The crisis has not reduced business activity. On the contrary, the number of small- and medium-sized companies grew by 143,000, or 2.8% last year. In other words, people have not lost their can-do spirit. As before, they are ready to assume responsibility for their destinies. We must support them as much as we can. At the same time, it is still premature to speak about the full entrepreneurial freedom in this country. How can we talk about freedom if until recently we had 500 types of business activities that required a license, and 78% of goods sold in the country had to undergo mandatory certification? Now we have reduced the number of licensed activities to 74.”
"Last year we quadrupled financial support for small and medium-sized businesses. I would like to stress that we must continue this policy because, as the available data suggest, it has created about 200,000 new jobs. At the same time we are gradually passing into a new stage, that of post-crisis development. Here we should pay more attention to the structure of small and medium-sized businesses and extend support to high-tech enterprises."
"Small businesses will receive about 100 billion roubles in loans through VEB partner banks in 2010. I repeat, we discussed this topic recently: the mechanism has yet to be finalized, but we have the money and the opportunities to implement these large-scale plans of supporting small business. The opportunities for this are there. We still have to work out effective mechanisms that bring quick results. Small business must get about 80 billion roubles through the mechanism of guarantee funds. In supporting small business, preference should be given to productive and innovative companies. Let me add that in 2009 support for small businesses amounted to nearly 50 billion roubles, compared with 3.5 billion in 2008.
“More incentives should be given to people to start their own business. This year new businessmen are being paid a lump sum grant of 58,800 roubles. Incidentally, many have taken advantage of this measure, even though it is a bureaucratic and time consuming process. But still there have been those who benefitted from this opportunity.”
"The year's total federal allocations to promote business along many channels approach 80 billion roubles, including 15 billion roubles for the plough-back of regional guarantee funds to enhance the crediting of small and medium-size companies. We aim not merely to increase the quantitative indices of business development but to achieve a qualitative improvement, to help small and medium-size companies to extend the geography of their presence, and acquire a firm footing in such spheres as housing, utilities and municipal services, science, innovation, information technologies and other knowledge-based services."
"For small and medium-sized enterprises, the credit problem is to a great extent connected with the shortage of collateral. In order to find a solution to this problem we need to develop regional guarantee funds more actively. We have already set aside 3.5 billion roubles as part of the Federal Support Programme for entrepreneurship, to top up regional guarantee funds. I can tell you that we have decided to allocate 15 billion roubles in additional resources to these ends. In the final analysis, we need to build up a comprehensive system of financial support for businessmen, ranging from grants to bank loans."
"Another major package of issues concerns SMEs' access to state and municipal orders. It has a special significance in conditions of the crisis and decreasing loans. I think we should speed up the introduction of the procedure for the placement of state orders through electronic auctions. This will allow us to ensure the businesses' fully transparent and public access to trading."
"Yesterday I also signed a resolution on improving the process of connecting to the electricity networks. This sets out the simplified procedure and reduced tariffs for connection. Connections of less than 100 KW will only require the advance payment of 5% of the service cost, and also include the option of extending repayments for up to three years. I also suggest that the connection term should not exceed six months."
"The companies whose annual revenues do not exceed 30 million roubles may use a simplified system of taxation. Many proposals have been made to raise this ceiling. <...> We view this decision as an anti-crisis measure that will allow us to ease the tax burden on a considerable part of small businesses. As the saying goes, proper timing is everything. This is why we believe we can provide this effective assistance now, at this difficult time; at least, this is our standpoint and representatives of your associations agree with us. It is true that without indexation this measure will gradually lose its effectiveness. But we will consider this problem again some time later."
