Investors are attracted by cheap loans and sales markets in Bashkiria - Rustem Khamitov

UFA, 27 February 2018. /Bashinform News Agency, Olga Murtazina/. Bashkortostan became one of the first regions in the Russian Federation to fulfil all the requirements for favorable investment environment formation, Rustem Khamitov, the head of the republic, reminded in an interview with the "Expert-Ural" magazine. "Investments in the gross regional product should be at least 25%. The Bashkiria’s GRP amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles, of which 25% - 375 billion rubles. Last year we had such a figure. But this year it will be much less. And according to an ideal scenario we need 30-35%. China in the best years had a figure of 40% of GRP. So we have very busy time ahead", said the Head.

To the question of the interviewer, how the republic attracts investors in conditions when the benefits are approximately the same in all regions, Rustem Khamitov answered the following: "The investment cycle consists of two components. The first is to ensure the demand for products that will be produced. That is, to find or provide sales markets. The second is long-term money. There are few of such options, and they are expensive".

As the Head noted, small and medium-sized businesses are not quite satisfied with policy of banks. "When an entrepreneur comes for a loan, banks evaluate his property at 10-15 discount. How can he develop? We will be able to render assistance through the Regional Leasing Company. Such structures were created only in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. 1.5 billion rubles were allocated by the federal budget; 500 million were added by the republic. But two billion rubles are not too much for the republic - we have already applications for five billion rubles. Long and cheap money should be available. And, you are right that everybody learned to grant benefits", summed up the head of the region.

Rustem Khamitov said that the overwhelming majority of investing companies are domestic (foreign companies own only 35 billion rubles out of 375 billion rubles in investments in republican capital). But in fact, they are even greater, the head believes. Enterprises do not always show spending on upgrading equipment, repairing infrastructure in order to avoid new taxes, which businesses do not want to pay. They do not intend to show their costs as investments, and Rosstat does not have a separate line of "planned repairs" or "increased reliability". Therefore, the amount of investment is much larger than it is seen in the figures.