The government has reduced the maximum loan amount provided to small and medium-sized businesses for investment purposes. Companies will be able to receive RUR 400 million ($6,1 mio) instead of the previous RUR 1 bln ($15,2 mio). A relevant resolution was signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The document says that the annual preferential rate on such loans will be 6.5%; the average rate for small and medium-sized businesses is around 15%.
“At the same time, the total cumulative loan amount that can be provided to one borrower for these purposes does not change and remains RUR 1 bln. Thus, banks will provide loans to a larger number of small and medium-sized businesses,” the government’s statement says.
The resolution was adopted at the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development. According to official statistics, almost 1,000 loan agreements were concluded with small and medium-sized businesses in the first seven months of 2018. In all, they received over RUR 45 bln ($689 mio) in loans.
“It is a known fact that the loan situation in Russia is tense, and it will not benefit from any restrictions,” economist Dmitry Afanasyev believes. “It requires some RUR 1 bln to establish a promising mid-size company.”