R. Minnikhanov: “One-third of the gross product is formed in Kazan, but the potential of the city is bigger”

(KZN.RU, February 26, Ksenia Shvetsova). Tatarstan occupies a serious position on the scale of the whole country in terms of socio-economic development, and the capital of the republic makes an enormous contribution to this. A third of the gross product is formed in Kazan today. However, the potential of the city allows achieving great results. Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, said this today at the meeting of the XXXII session of the Kazan City Duma in the City Hall.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, reported on the results of work over the past year. He noted that the city had a stable socio-economic situation since the beginning of the year. Thus, the volume of production, housing construction, and paid services to the population increased. The industrial production index in Kazan was 104.8%, in the republic and in Russia (102% and 102.9%, respectively). Large and medium-sized enterprises of the city have shipped goods of their own production, completed work and provided services worth almost 315 billion rubles, which is 8% higher than last year.

“Retail turnover for the year amounted to 532.4 billion rubles. Turnover in the catering business increased by 6.8%. The volume of paid services grew by 2.2%, and the volume of investments for the year amounted to about 200 billion rubles”, the Mayor reported. He reminded that last August, Kazan entered the top 15 Guangzhou Award finalists along with New York, Sydney, and Milan. And in July 2018, the finals of the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew World Award were held in Singapore, where the capital of Tatarstan was chosen for special mention along with Tokyo and Hamburg, the first among Russian cities.

“We are proud of our capital. Guangzhou, Singapore awards are the recognition of the work that is being implemented in Kazan. It is important that we continue to strive, and the city becomes the best in the life quality”, noted Rustam Minnikhanov. “But, nevertheless, there is still room for growth. Residents of Kazan are more demanding than residents of regions, and more work needs to be done”. The capital of the republic ranks fourth out of 78 cities according to the rating of the Russian government, he added. “We have the second position on roads, on housing and communal services – the fourth place, in medicine – the eighth place, culture and education – the twentieth place, the convenience of the city for residents – the 21st place. All this suggests that we still have room for growth and work so that not only the center, but also the whole city meets the highest requirements”, said the President of the RT.

In general, the republic holds a leading position in socio-economic development, making a huge contribution to the development of the country, said R. Minnikhanov. He added that the gross territorial product in the RT is 2 trillion 418 billion rubles. Tatarstan is in fourth place in terms of the volume of agricultural products and investments in fixed assets and is in fifth place in terms of industrial output. “In the RT, tax payments are collected in the amount of 802 billion rubles, of which 521 billion are consolidated into the federal budget, 221 billion rubles into the budget of the republic, and 157 billion taxes mobilized in Kazan”, said R. Minnikhanov. “Kazan today is a large industrial center, a third of the gross product is being formed here. But I think that the potential of Kazan is bigger, we must work on the economic potential of the city further”.

Small and medium businesses invest a huge contribution to the city’s economy. There are almost 82 thousand of small and medium-sized businesses in Kazan, and the number of people employed in this segment is almost 175 thousand people. The turnover increased by 24.5% to the level of the previous year and amounted to 433.6 billion rubles. The amount of tax revenues to the city budget is more than 4.8 billion rubles, 38% of the total tax revenues.

“A program to support small and medium-sized businesses for 2017-2019 is being implemented to help small businesses”, reminded the Mayor. “Last year, operators of the program of concessional lending issued 21 loans totaling almost 137 million rubles. In total, over the period of the program, concessional loans were issued to 472 entrepreneurs for a total amount of 1.8 billion rubles”.

The efficiency of work in Kazan is much more attractive for entrepreneurs than in other cities of the republic. Therefore it is necessary to develop both industrial areas of business and services, including using a public-private partnership, noted R. Minnikhanov. “We can talk a lot about success, but when we look at social networks, there are a lot of issues. We conducted a survey. For small and medium businesses, 50% of respondents said they had administrative barriers. In this matter, not only the Mayor and his team should be working, but all services and structures should understand that we must address to the business. It is not only about Kazan, but we are administrative barriers, too”, said have President of the RT. He added that 18% of the polled citizens in social networks said about prejudice attitude from officials.

He also reminded that in his address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin, the President of the RF, ordered to work through the base of documents and eliminate all outdated regulations and requirements, saving entrepreneurs from unnecessary bureaucratic delays. “I would put this task more seriously: to deal with these approaches by 2021 and leave only what should be. Today, many instructions and regulations have accumulated, half of them are not effective. This work should be done not only at the level of the Executive Committee. Colleagues who work in the field should understand that entrepreneurs are our support, jobs, incomes, and taxes”, said the President of the RT.

R. Minnikhanov also proposed to consider the possibility of introducing a preferential tax for self-employed and urged such entrepreneurs to change their approach to work. “We need to get out of the shadows, we have the law now. These payments will go to your local budget. It is necessary to carry out explanatory work. People will pay taxes and be able to work in peace”.

“Tatarstan is one of the largest payers to the federal budget. If our economy is at a good level, then 280 billion rubles of our own revenues will allow us to implement even more socially significant programs. This year, we are implementing 40 different programs. If we do not work on economics, then there will be no such figures”, concluded R. Minnikhanov.