Addresses of the President of Kazakhstan (23.12.2020)
Small and medium-sized businesses are going through difficult times. In fact, they are bearing the brunt of the pandemic.
To overcome the negative economic consequences, tax breaks were provided to more than 700,000 entrepreneurs, payments have been deferred and an opportunity has been given to refinance loans on favourable terms. However, the situation remains difficult.
As an additional aid to small and medium-sized businesses, I am instructing to provide state subsidies for interest rates of up to 6% per annum on all existing loans to SMEs in the affected sectors of the economy. The subsidy will cover a period of 12 months, starting from the moment of the announcement of the state of emergency, that is, from March 16 of this year.
The National Bank is implementing a special working capital replenishment programme for SMEs in the most affected sectors. Previously it was assumed that it would terminate its operation this year.
In the current crisis conditions, I instruct that this programme be extended until the end of 2021, and that its coverage be expanded. For these purposes, an additional 200 billion tenge ($476 million) should be provided, bringing the total volume of the programme to 800 billion ($1.9 billion) tenge.
I also instruct the suspension until the end of the year of charging rent from SMEs for real estate objects owned by government agencies and the quasi-public sector.
In the current conditions, maintaining employment and the population’s income is an absolute priority. It is therefore important over this period to reduce the burden on the wages fund for SMEs in the most affected industries. For this category of business, I instruct that deductions from wages to extra-budgetary funds be suspended for the period until the end of the year.
The next question is business climate. This area needs reform, since the regulatory system remains cumbersome, even punitive.
The basic principles of regulatory policy need to be changed. State regulation can only be justified by protecting the health of citizens and the environment.
Both on a legislative level and in practice, the predominance of essence over form should be fixed: common sense and content should prevail over strict legal norms. The three-year moratorium on inspections provides a good opportunity to introduce such regulation from scratch.
We should start with the most corrupt spheres: architectural and construction activities, sanitary and epidemiological supervision, veterinary medicine, certification and others. I am instructing that a new regulatory framework for small and medium-sized businesses be developed within the next year.
state revenue management in Zhambyl district