A meeting of the public council under the Ministry of Economy was held in Moscow

As a meeting of the public council under the Ministry of Economy held on Thursday showed, with the transition from the anti-crisis agenda to systemic measures to support investment activity, business expects from the authorities guarantees of predictability not only of tax policy and protection of property rights. The business community has already prepared proposals aimed at additional protection of assets from deprivatization. Judging by the statements of Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, the Ministry of Economy, as the agency responsible for investment growth, shares business values ​​in terms of guaranteeing the rights of bona fide owners.

On Thursday the meeting was held Public Council under the Ministry of Economy – reporting for four years, during which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the economic policy of the Russian Federation did not leave the “anti-crisis” channel. The new stage of the government’s economic bloc should ensure a transition to systemic measures for the economic development of the Russian Federation. According to Maxim Reshetnikov, over the past four years the state has “demonstrated that it sees a partner in the private sector” – business, he added, “responded”: saving jobs, rebuilding logistics, looking for new suppliers and markets, which accelerated the restructuring of the economy as a whole .

As the minister admitted, the task of development under conditions of restrictions is even more complex and requires flexibility from regulators.

Analysts now predict a slowdown in GDP growth in 2024 to the base (determined by the institutional structure of the economy) level of 1.5–1.6%, in particular due to limited access to technology, as well as a shortage of personnel in a number of industries, which limits opportunities production Ideas on what to do with the labor market were heard right at the meeting: this was a temporary increase in the share of foreign labor, as well as support for employees of companies who are located abroad, but work for the Russian economy.

Maxim Reshetnikov also agreed with this, noting that it is worth paying attention to the support of those who are now works from abroad and can return, as well as more intensively engage in “reasonable management of migration processes.”

In shaping long-term economic growth, the authorities continue to rely on investment activity: a package of incentive measures is already working to support it, including agreements on the protection and encouragement of investment, the “Project Financing Factory” and the issuance of loans from the National Welfare Fund.

In this regard, Maxim Reshetnikov assured, the values ​​of the Ministry of Economy remain the same: protection of business interests, commitment to a market economy and the inviolability of the rights of a bona fide owner.

Business welcomes these guidelines, but needs basic guarantees of predictability of business conditions, including in matters of property. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, as Alexander Shokhin reported during the council, has prepared additional proposals to protect the rights of bona fide business buyers from deprivatization.

So, proposed to introduce a mechanism of bilateral restitution, which implies not only the right of the state to transfer this or that property to the treasury, but also the right of the owner to compensation at the market price, taking into account previous costs, including when putting the asset up for re-privatization. It is also proposed to clearly define the ten-year limitation period established in 2013, so that transactions for which this period expired in September 2023 cannot be challenged.

As before, entrepreneurs are concerned about tax policy: although this issue does not directly fall within the competence of the Ministry of Economy, council members returned to the topic more than once.

Thus, the executive director of Opora Rossii, Andrei Shubin, expressed concern about the discussion of the future fate of non-tax payments and the risks of including a wide list of them in the Tax Code. In this part, Maxim Reshetnikov expressed his readiness to take part in finding a solution.

Alexander Shokhin noted that as part of the transformation of anti-crisis measures related to the opportunistic increase in the burden on business into predictable systemic measures, it is possible to discuss raising taxes or replacing the fiscal burden, in particular in the form of export duties, with predictable tax schemes, for example, differentiation of income tax in depending on investment activity. In general, Alexander Shokhin stated, not yet in all issues there is a willingness to move from temporary measures to systemic ones – in particular, the discussion between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank on the extension of the mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings was indicative.

Evgenia Kryuchkova