«Отчетная встреча министра торговли и интеграции РК Бахыта Султанова перед населением»

(PPRC No. 307 of may 20, 2020)

As part of the Comprehensive plan, the Ministry of trade and integration is working on reviewing the requirements and procedures for the administration of established threshold and limit prices for socially important food products.

Today, the mechanism for setting marginal prices is regulated by the Rules for setting thresholds for retail prices for socially important food products and the size of the maximum allowable retail prices for them.

In accordance with the Rules, threshold prices are approved by the akimats annually in January for the current year, which are forecasted and set for the purpose of monitoring and monitoring them.

In case of exceeding the threshold values of retail prices for socially important food products by 15%, as well as with a simultaneous increase in retail prices by 30% within 30 days with exceeding the threshold values of retail prices, local Executive bodies set the maximum allowable retail prices.

The size of the maximum allowable retail prices is defined as the average between the retail price of socially important food products for a week earlier and the current retail price.

Decisions on the adoption of limit prices are made on the proposal of commissions under local Executive bodies, the excess of which entails administrative responsibility.

It should be noted that when setting these indicators, the increase in the cost of goods, changes in the exchange rate, inflation and other macroeconomic indicators are not taken into account.

In this regard, the Ministry of trade and integration is working on changing the current mechanism for setting prices for socially important food products.

To date, various mechanisms for controlling these products are being considered, taking into account international experience, including direct and indirect methods of price regulation.

Thus, changes in the requirements and administrative procedures for setting threshold and limit prices for socially important food products are being worked out and will be reviewed taking into account the current legislation by the end of 2020.

The Ministry is developing the infrastructure of the national commodity distribution system (ORC).

Currently, the working group is conducting trips to the regions of the Republic to review the proposed land plots and resolve organizational issues.

The Ministry of industry and infrastructure development of the Republic of Kazakhstan will provide expert support for the construction of wholesale distribution centers.

Objectives for the second half of 2020

This year, it is planned to complete work on determining land plots in the regions for the construction of wholesale distribution centers.

To date, the following measures are envisaged to stimulate the development of the e-Commerce market.

First. Ensuring access to concessional long-term financing

To support the development of domestic entrepreneurs, the Ministry proposes to work out the issue of financing within the framework of lending programs through second-tier banks, microfinance organizations, subsidizing interest rates on loans, consulting and project support.

In addition, it is proposed to pay attention to the credit conditions, which should set the maximum amount of the loan amount, the loan term, the interest rate and provide a grace period for repayment of the loan debt.

Second. The granting of an exemption on CIT and VAT

The Ministry of trade and integration has made changes and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

For support purposes, e-Commerce entities are exempt from paying CPN and IPN taxes if the following conditions are met:

registration of transactions for the sale of goods is carried out in electronic form;
90% of payment for goods is made by non-cash payment;
having your own delivery service for goods to the buyer, or entering into a contract with a courier or postal service.
According to the state revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 601 online stores are registered in the Republic.

In 2019, e-Commerce companies created
36.8 thousand new jobs. At the same time, the measures already taken to stimulate the activity of this sector show the growth rate of the number of e-Commerce entities.

In order to identify the real number of entrepreneurs engaged in e-Commerce, the Ministry plans to conduct an annual analysis of data from the state revenue Committee and the statistics Committee.

In order to support domestic entrepreneurs, the Ministry of trade and integration, together with the ministries of Finance and national economy and Astana Hub, proposes to review the requirements for granting benefits for VAT, CPN and IPN payments.

The third. The decrease in rates of interbank commissions for online transactions

Due to the quarantine measures introduced in Kazakhstan, the level of cross-border e-Commerce is expected to decrease due to the termination of all types of communication, the closure of borders, as well as the establishment of a reduced mode of operation during the quarantine period.

Large companies operate on the market of Kazakhstan
online food delivery platforms like Yandex.Food, Wolt, Chocofood, Glovo, etc. One of the conditions for cooperation between restaurants and cafes with these platforms is payment in favor of the platforms from the amount of 20% to 35% of the order.

Restaurants and cafes accept orders via phone, social networks, and other communication tools. Payment in these cases is made by transfer of payment.

Currently, in Kazakhstan, the price of acquiring services (commissions for online transactions) ranges from 1% to 3%.

In order to reduce the use of cash and at the same time motivate non-cash payments through payment terminals, a measure is proposed to reduce acquiring to 1%. This measure will increase the share of non-cash payments.

The issue of permits for trade markets and public catering facilities in strict compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements has also been worked out.

To date, in accordance with sub-paragraphs 2) and 4) of paragraph 7 of the resolution of the Chief state sanitary doctor of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated may 20, 2020 No. 37 "on further strengthening of measures to prevent diseases of coronavirus infection among the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (resolution), the situation with coronavirus infection gives a positive result, since August 17, the quarantine has been lifted on weekdays, on weekends the quarantine will be in effect. So, since August 17, the work of food and non-food markets has been resumed in compliance with the enhanced sanitary and disinfection regime.

In order to fulfill the point on zeroing customs duties until the end of 2020 on components and spare parts for agricultural producers, as well as on a number of raw materials for the agricultural processing industry (confectionery, juice producers, and others) MTI RK prepared a proposal based on the appendices of the Ministry of agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and sent to the Eurasian economic Commission.

Regarding the agricultural processing industry (confectionery, sugar, juice producers), it should be noted that the main producers are members of the Special economic zone and carry out their activities under special investment contracts, which, in turn, provides them with preferences for exemption from import customs duties on technological equipment, components and spare parts for them, raw materials and supplies.

In order to fulfill the point of increasing export compensation to 80% of transport costs for high-value producers, the Ministry of trade has developed a package of amendments To the rules for reimbursement of part of the costs of exporters, where:

- updated the list of products that are partially reimbursed for their promotion costs;

- provision for reimbursement of part of the costs to traders;

- the amount of compensation depends on the level of product conversion: upper conversion – 80% (transformers, jewelry, wagons, etc.), middle – 50% (flour, bearings, oils, etc.), lower – 30% (Portland cement, cement clinkers, etc.);

- the refund limit related to the delivery of goods up to 75,000 MCI has been transferred instead of 1/50 of the allocated funds;

- the limit for reimbursement of costs associated with delivery by own road transport is set at 100 tenge per 1 km;

-for subjects of industrial and innovative activities, the amount of compensation increases by 5% when goods are delivered to the European Union, as well as by 5% when domestic cargo carriers are involved;

- optimized and reduced package of documents (optimization in terms of confirming the status of "manufacturer" and "country of origin", in terms of providing photo reports, advertising and handouts, optimization of documents in terms of confirming flights and accommodation, excluded "waybill" when delivering goods by road);

- decisions on the possibility/impossibility of reimbursement of costs, transfer of funds and conclusion of an agreement with applicants are made by the Operator (currently-JSC " QazIndustry»);

- the Operator (currently QazIndustry JSC) is supposed to monitor the effectiveness of the implementation of reimbursement of part of the subjects ' expenses (socio-economic, satisfaction, etc.);

- set counter-obligations: achieve target indicators of state support measures within 2 years after cost recovery;

- increase in the volume of foreign currency revenue from the sale of products and services by at least 10%;

- increase in tax deductions by at least 10%.

In addition, new types of reimbursement of part of the costs are provided:

- costs associated with licensing procedures;

- procedures related to the delivery of products for testing in the framework of certification;