BUSINESS: 54% OF THE COMPANIES DID NOT RECEIVE THE STATE SUPPORT

According to a survey, conducted among 25 thousand of entrepreneurs from 83 subjects of the Russian Federation, it is possible to draw disappointing conclusions about the consequences of the impact of the pandemic on the Russian business

To begin with, it is important to clarify, who the respondents, included in the statistics, are. The survey involved the business representatives of various scales: from large (2%) and medium (7%) to small (34%) and micro (57%).

The bulk of respondents are individual entrepreneurs (49%) and commercial organizations (43%), the remaining layer is represented by self-employed (3%) and non-profit organizations (5%).

The answers to the questions were given by the representatives of the most affected areas (trade 35%, services 37%, catering 7%, tourism 6%), as well as by those who are not on the government lists yet (production 17%, agriculture 3%, construction 6 %, real estate 3%).

For a quarter of respondents, the income from activities fell by 75%, almost half of the total number of the respondents stated that they have completely terminated the activity.

The statistics on the companies, experiencing difficulties, but not falling under the benefits, are disappointing as well – there are 54% of them. Among the problems, faced by the business, half of the respondents cite the lack of funds for paying rent, the inaccessibility of state support measures, and the lack of technical ability to work remotely.

Despite this, many entrepreneurs try to retain staff by paying them a salary from their own funds (41%) or declaring forced downtime (23%), some of the respondents sent employees on unpaid leave (15%), a small number of the companies partially reduced their staff (11%) or dismissed everyone (10%).

When the respondents were asked, what support measures will really help them, three quarters of the entrepreneurs called:

• declaring of all the industries affected and the provision of state support to them;

• subsidizing of the salary payments to employees for the period of non-working days;

• rental vacation for the entire quarantine period.

Many respondents noted that they really will be helped by:

• announcement of emergency situation and recognition of force majeure in the economy;

• reduction of the tax burden (from turnover, on patents and insurance contributions);

• low interest loans.

Among the measures that were called most often, there were cancelation or reduction of VAT as well as the VAT vacation, the deferral on payments for all obligations and the abolition of self-isolation.