The reloading of the SZPK has enlarged the projects

The volume of investments promised by business in the Russian economy under the already concluded agreements on the protection and promotion of capital investments (SZPK) has reached 2.4 trillion rubles, said Deputy Economy Minister Murat Kerefov. In total, the state and investors agreed on 52 projects, they will provide about 40 thousand jobs.

Recall that the SZPK mechanism was launched at the end of 2020, but then, due to the unavailability of the necessary digital platform, it worked for only four months – 36 agreements were signed for 1.2 trillion rubles. As a result of the restart of the SZPK at the end of 2022, the mechanism was able to focus on larger projects – at this stage, 1.2 trillion rubles. already distributed among 16 projects.

It should be noted that after the reset, the balance of interests shifted in favor of the state: the requirements for the volume of capital investments were increased, control over investments was tightened by connecting companies to tax monitoring, the regions were able to give negative opinions on projects (see Kommersant on March 13). However, according to the vice-president of the RSPP, Maria Glukhova, in practice, business fears about a possible “regional barrier” did not materialize.

Currently, SZPKs have been concluded in 33 regions: most of the agreements are in the Sverdlovsk, Leningrad and Murmansk regions, Tatarstan and Moscow. The largest projects are being implemented in the Krasnoyarsk and Trans-Baikal Territories – in the amount of 215 billion and 234 billion rubles. respectively. Most of the projects are in the field of mining and processing.

Maria Glukhova notes that the stabilization clause proposed by the NWPC on the immutability of the project conditions has become even more relevant for investors in conditions of high uncertainty, both due to sanctions and plans for windfall tax (a one-time payment of business to the budget). The Ministry of Finance explained to Kommersant earlier that the new taxes would not apply to projects under the agreements, but the changes would apply to the rest of the tax base (not related to the SZPK). According to Murat Kerefov, so far the departments proceed from the fact that new taxes are not applied to companies that have signed an SZPK. However, Maria Glukhova believes that until the first disputes over the stabilization clause pass, the law on the SZPK cannot be considered working.

Diana Galieva