I.Metshin: “We must soften the blows of the crisis for small and medium-sized businesses and help them survive and develop”

Kazan entrepreneurs actively benefit from municipal support measures for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin instructed to inform each entrepreneur about all support measures at the meeting of the XL session of the Kazan city Duma, which was held today at the City Hall. “We must jointly do everything possible to soften the blows of the crisis for small and medium-sized businesses and help them not only survive, but also develop. This is our crucial task today”, - the Mayor said.

Today, the contribution of small and medium-sized businesses to the gross territorial product is almost 40%, which makes entrepreneurship an important component of the city's economy, Ilsur Metshin emphasized. “We have worked hard for many years to improve the business climate. We developed the tourism, which created conditions for the growth of a large number of small businesses. Due to the special regime imposed in  the city, we first developed a package of measures to support small businesses, individual entrepreneurs and the self – employed, made changes to existing city programs”, - the Mayor reminded.

Kazan entrepreneurs are already actively benefit from the proposed measures, Deputy head of the Executive Committee Ildar Shakirov said. So, one of the important measures was the possibility to place summer terraces free of charge, provided by the municipality to Kazan catering establishments. As of today, according to I.Shakirov, 103 agreements have been signed, which is twice as much as last year.

“This decision was very timely. Kazan catering establishments opened in this format on June 11. This measure will allow them to save 2.5 million rubles”, - the speaker noted.

Kazan entrepreneurs managed to save more than 22.5 million rubles thanks to the moratorium on fines landscaping rules violations imposed in the city from March 20 to the end of the year. To date, 692 warnings have already been issued to businessmen, instead of fines.

Free of rent municipal property allows Kazan entrepreneurs to save 250 million rubles, the Deputy head of the Executive Committee added. For information, now SMEs working in the most affected industries can get an exemption from rent for April and May, and others –deferred payments for the same period.

“As of today, 96 appeals have been received from entrepreneurs, 43 agreements have been signed for the amount of 19.5 million rubles”, - I.Shakirov said.

In the capital of Tatarstan, a separate support measure is provided for representatives of the advertising business – deferred payments to the city budget for all contracts for the installation and operation of advertising structures for a year. According to I.Shakirov, this measure will allow entrepreneurs to save 78 million rubles.

“We provided incentives to advertising companies, and they in turn provided free advertising space for business representatives. At the national level, the President decided to grant certain benefits to owners of malls to reduce rent payments as well,- the Mayor commented. - This proves that state and municipal support for entrepreneurs launches a chain of processes that stimulate the entire business”.

A significant financial support for Kazan entrepreneurs is the municipal program of preferential credit scheme-subsidizing part of the interest rate on loans.

“In the current situation, we have decided to provide priority support to those entrepreneurs whose loans have been restructured. This was not possible before”, - the speaker said. Presently, requests for restructuring have been received from 15 entrepreneurs obtaining subsidies from the city budget, and all requests have been approved.

“All the decisions have been made and the tasks have been outlined. Now we need all these measures to work effectively. I ask you to inform each entrepreneur about all the opportunities they have”, - I.Metshin instructed.