STEPAN ZEMTSOV SPOKE TO NRU HSE STUDENTS
According to Stepan Zemtsov, the statistics does not yet reflect the dramatic drop in the SME segment, while the accurate results will be known in August 2021. According to data of the SMEs Unified Register, the total number of entities decreased by 4.2% by August 2020 compared to August 2019.
The crisis affected not only regions where SMEs are poorly developed (Republic of Ingushetia, Amur Region, Tyva, Komi), but also large agglomerations (for example, Samara, Perm, Volgograd). At the same time, despite negative trends, employment in the SME sector increased (+ 0.4%), higher in a number of southern regions and in Moscow, however, in 61 out of 85 regions it fell. This is because companies have filed file missing accounting in order to be included into the SMEs Register and receive support, as well as moved fr om large to medium-sized, having increased employment in the SME sector (the number of medium-sized companies increased by 5.2%). If the self-employed (1.7 million people), registered payers of business income tax, are to be taken into account, then the growth in employment in the SME sector in 2020 exceeded 8.5%. However, some of them can be employed by small and medium-sized companies.
Considering measures of state support, it was established that on average Rub 30 000 were allocated to one SME subject in Russia in March-September 2020. According to the Unified Register data related to SMEs, recipients of support, this value is higher in more affected regions and wh ere additional funds came from regional budgets (for example, Tyumen, Voronezh regions, Krasnoyarsk krai).