The State Duma discussed plans for the development of special economic zones
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Taking into account the ongoing adjustment of the regime of special economic zones (SEZ) – it continues in the form of targeted adjustments – the Ministry of Economy sees their further development as “extensive” in terms of infrastructure and further removal of barriers. Thus, the department is considering the possibility of providing advances to regions for the construction of infrastructure, the costs of which will be reimbursed by the budget, as well as introducing some administrative relief for residents. The SEZs themselves hope for the return, at least partially, of benefits on insurance premiums.
Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economy Dmitry Vakhrukov at yesterday’s expert council in the State Duma said that the development of SEZs should be “extensive” – for this it is necessary to continue working to remove restrictions and create additional conditions for incentives for growth, in particular, through the development of infrastructure and the expansion of production facilities for new investors. According to the Ministry of Economy, there are now 53 SEZs (there are plans to create new zones, for example, in Sheregesh, Tuva, Tatarstan and expand a number of existing ones), whose residents have so far invested 1.2 trillion rubles. (total declared 5 trillion rubles). According to preliminary data, in 2023 investments amounted to 400 billion rubles, which is twice as much as in 2022.
In order to increase the efficiency of SEZs, we recall that a law was adopted on their reform: the number of types of special economic zones was reduced, the procedures for obtaining resident status by businesses were simplified, and the conditions for the purchase of plots were tightened by tying this opportunity to the fulfillment of obligations undertaken by companies (see “Kommersant” from April 21, 2022). Since mid-February, a cluster approach has been introduced – new zones are industry-oriented: the majority of residents must work in the area of specialization of a particular SEZ. Also, more lenient conditions for “entry” into the SEZ are provided for projects that correspond to the technological taxonomy (list of priority types of production – see “Kommersant” dated April 18, 2023) – for them the investment thresholds are set at 50 million rubles. (usually in port areas – 400 million rubles, in industrial production areas – 120 million rubles).
Among the measures that the department is now developing for investors is allowing the transfer of lease rights as collateral (see Kommersant on February 14) and lifting restrictions on the implementation of a number of petrochemical projects in the SEZ, for example, benzene processing. For regions, as part of the mechanism for reimbursing the costs of creating infrastructure (through subsidies from the federal budget), it is proposed to introduce advance payment for such work, and for SEZ management companies – preferential loans for the construction of production buildings, so that residents can choose a ready-made site.
The auditor of the Accounts Chamber, Natalya Trunova, called for assessing the effectiveness of the SEZ not only “quantitatively”, but also “qualitatively” – in particular, paying attention not just to the number of jobs created, but also to the share of high-tech ones. Dmitry Vakhrukov considered this relevant given the shortage in the labor market, but so far this topic “has not been fully developed – in order to have high-performance jobs, residents need to be encouraged to create them, and this is a taxation issue.”
In the SEZs themselves, against this background, they continue to hope for the return of some of the previously canceled benefits – we recall that from 2020, the reduced rate of insurance premiums (7.6%) remained only for SEZ residents working in IT. General Director of the Innopolis SEZ Renat Khalimov noted that the benefit cannot be used by residents who are not IT companies, but “at the same time create innovative solutions,” although such organizations, as a rule, have “expensive personnel.” In this regard, he proposed returning the reduced rate, but not in full, but only for employees whose salaries are above the regional average, so that SEZ residents could hire highly qualified personnel.
No objections were voiced at the meeting—the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Denis Kravchenko, agreed that it was necessary to “find opportunities to return this benefit.” However, the Ministry of Finance, which is usually restrained towards the ideas of expanding preferences, may oppose it. Moreover, the department previously proposed limiting the amount of tax benefits already in effect in the SEZ to the amount of expenses for capital investments and R&D (see “Kommersant” dated September 28, 2023). In the meantime, the Ministry of Finance told Kommersant, the department is considering this initiative.
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