Translated material
Goodwill Games
The outgoing cabinet of ministers wants to help state employees and small businesses
The task of “letting citizens earn money” will be decided by the outgoing government by the end of March. The Ministry of Finance expressed its intention to help regions that do not fulfill plans for indexing salaries for public sector employees , and the Presidium of the State Council should consider measures to support small businesses.Ten regions, quite possibly, will not have enough of their own funds to cope with the unscheduled 14% increase in salaries for public sector employees, which was supposed to take place on February 1. This was stated yesterday at the traditional meeting of government members with President Vladimir Putin by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, clarifying that 76 regions have already decided to increase wages and three more will adopt it in the next week or two. In case the regions do not have enough of their own funds, the Ministry of Finance offers them a standard agreement with the federal government on possible support. “We agreed that, first of all, they will allocate additional income for these purposes, some will take additional borrowings,” explained Mr. Kudrin.
In case the regions still cannot find funds to increase salaries on their own, 16 billion rubles have been allocated in the federal budget to help regional authorities. True, as the head of the Ministry of Finance noted, the need for their use will be considered only in the second half of the year, since the growth dynamics of regional incomes are very positive. In January 2008, according to the Ministry of Finance, the income of the federal subjects increased by 34% compared to January 2007.
In the interpretation of the Minister of Finance, the state of affairs looks quite optimistic, however, judging by publications in regional media, most regions are experiencing significant difficulties in fulfilling their obligations to public sector employees. The salaries of public sector workers increased in accordance with the decision of Vladimir Putin, who demanded that regional salaries be reviewed in the direction of a sharp increase. Prior to this, as previously planned, only a seven percent increase in salaries and pensions was planned for 2008 in the regions. The regions learned that the increase should be twice as large after the regional budgets were adopted.
Regions are ready to take out bank loans, but many of them still have to cut budget expenditures or increase the local treasury deficit. In the Murmansk region, for example, it was decided to sharply reduce the governor's contingency fund and cut the amount of funds that were supposed to be allocated for capital construction. And yet, such savings in the regional budget made it possible to find only half of the necessary money.
The most “advanced” regions that switched to a sectoral wage system, such as the Sakhalin region, found themselves in a financial trap. The fact is that the transition to a sectoral system makes it potentially difficult to increase the salaries of public sector employees using federal budget funds, since special salary indexation mechanisms are used for this system.
Another area that the government intends to discuss as actively as possible in the coming weeks is the next measures of state support for small businesses . As Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said at a meeting with the president, a government commission for the development of small and medium-sized businesses will be formed in the near future. It should also develop mechanisms for regional support for small businesses. The Ministry of Economic Development has prepared its own set of measures - it will be discussed at the upcoming Presidium of the State Council chaired by Dmitry Medvedev. It is possible that the meeting will acquire some intrigue: among the topics announced for discussion, there are very unexpected proposals.
As Alexander Zhukov said, it is necessary to radically simplify the system for registering new small businesses, including the possibility of completing this procedure via the Internet, reduce the number of permitting procedures required to start a business, and replace permitting procedures with obtaining certificates of technical regulations. Sanctions against employees of control and supervisory authorities who commit violations during inspections, he said, should, on the contrary, be tightened. And special attention should be paid to reducing the powers of the police in terms of carrying out inspections.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the program to promote the development of small and medium-sized businesses involves the development of infrastructure to support new enterprises within the framework of business incubators, technology parks and industrial parks; simplifying access for small businesses to purchase and rent real estate; as well as increasing accessibility for small businesses to the services of natural and local monopolies (connection to electricity, gas and utility networks). In addition, the state does not rule out creating additional incentives for small businesses in the form of budget co-financing, grants and tax breaks.