Adapting to the virus: what gives state support to small businesses

At the end of 2021, it can be stated that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a business segment that is particularly hard hit by the covid-19 pandemic , are nevertheless confidently staying afloat. By the end of this year, the small sector of the economy employs 25.2 million people, including 18.8 million employees. The unified register of SMEs contains information on 952 thousand newly created enterprises, which is 20% higher than last year.

Small business was able to survive in this difficult time, including thanks to the support of the state.

The past year has consolidated the trends that emerged earlier. People use the Internet to shop, and entrepreneurs to start a business. Many companies that have previously switched to remote work have decided not to leave it at all. The state in every possible way encouraged the digitalization of business, at the same time it itself transferred almost all of its services online.

If we talk about specific assistance, this year the government continued the program of paying salary grants and preferential loans. SMEs had access to one-time grants in the amount of one minimum wage for each employee and concessional loans under the Payroll 3.0 program while maintaining 90% of staff employment. In July of this year, it became clear that borrowers do not have enough time to pay off their debt. Therefore, the loan repayment period at 3% per annum was doubled - up to 12 months. The Cabinet of Ministers allocated 20 billion rubles for these programs. The total amount of support specifically for these programs is about 38.5 billion rubles. And grants should help 1.1 million small businesses with more than 2 million employees.

Support for the sector continued within the framework of the national project on SMEs. More than 13,000 people received assistance through it, and microloans (4,000 recipients) turned out to be the most popular. New conditions for technological entrepreneurship are also being created. More than 70 industrial parks and technology parks have been opened in the regions, while 42 such sites have been created as part of the SME national project. This made it possible to attract 2,000 residents and provide almost 40,000 jobs.