I.Metshin: “The support measures proved to be effective and helped advertising agencies through difficult times”

Another deferral on payments for 96.7 million rubles in connection with the coronavirus pandemic was provided by the Municipality of Kazan to advertising agencies. The current 2021 quarterly payments have been postponed to 2022. This will preserve signed contracts and keep firms from bankruptcy. The prolongation of support measures was announced by the head of the Outdoor Advertising and Information Department Askar Bagautdinov at the Executive Committee at the Business Monday meeting.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, reminded that the city made an independent decision to help the advertising industry, since federal support measures for small and medium-sized businesses affected by the pandemic did not apply to outdoor advertising operators. This made it possible to avoid terminating contracts. “The support measures proved to be effective, and the postponement helped advertising agencies through difficult times. Recovery takes time, so we have spread payments”, - he said.

According to A.Bagautdinov, the total amount of deferred payments (for the second quarter of 2020, part of payments for the third and fourth quarters of 2020, for the first quarter of 2021) amounted to 145.8 million rubles. In 2021, taking into account deferred payments, the budget of Kazan received 335 million rubles from outdoor advertising, while the plan was 426.6 million rubles. The pace of market recovery was not enough to cover the increased financial burden, the head of the department noted, therefore part of the amount deferred for 2021 was postponed to 2022.

Since the beginning of 2022, the city budget has already received 46 million rubles. In total, with deferred payments, it is planned to collect 435 million rubles this year. “These measures preserved the contracts, as well as allow the city to expect a full replenishment of budget revenues that were not received in 2020”, - Askar Bagautdinov said.