BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
Trend:
The head of Kazakhstan’s National Economy Ministry Aset Irgaliyev presented a package of new tools to support the business at a meeting of the Project Office on Entrepreneurship chaired by the country’s Prime Minister Askar Mamin, Trend reports referring to the ministry.
Speaking about anti-crisis measures to support the business and the population in 2020, Irgaliyev emphasized three packages of anti-crisis measures, including urgent measures to support the population and business, for maintaining socio-economic stability and a Comprehensive Plan to restore economic growth of the country.
According to him, in order to support business, tax incentives were provided for the affected (by the COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions) industries, volume of preferential lending to small- and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) was expanded, and financing of working capital was increased.
Besides, loans were refinanced on preferential terms and payments were deferred.
As a result, 700,000 entrepreneurs received tax benefits, 80 percent of borrowers from the affected industries took advantage of loan deferrals, and 40,000 entrepreneurs took advantage of project financing.
“It should be stressed that in 2020, changes were made to the business support program, which allowed expand lending instruments and the availability of financing. So, within the Business Roadmap and Economy of Simple Things programs, the interest rate has been unified at the level of 6 percent,” he said.
The minister reminded that, a three-year moratorium on inspections in relation to micro and small businesses imposed from January 1, 2020 is still in effect. The moratorium will allow cancel 100,000 inspections within 3 years, which will reduce the administrative burden and contribute to the stability of business launch.
"A new program of preferential lending of the National Bank has been launched to provide working capital at a rate of 8 percent for the affected business entities, and industry restrictions have been lifted under the Business Road Map program," Irgaliyev noted.
Furthermore, within the framework of the ‘Business Roadmap-2025’ program, a new direction called ‘Business Micro-lending’ was introduced, the end borrower rate for which is 6 percent. The maximum amount of microcredit to replenish working capital is 5 million tenge ($12,000), and for production needs - 20 million tenge ($48,000). At the same time, guarantees of up to 85 percent of the principal debt are provided by the state, and micro and small business projects are being rapidly considered.
According to Irgaliyev, the Supreme Council for Reforms developed and considered 8 urgent new measures aimed at supporting business.
The first measure envisions reducing the burden on the wages fund and payment in a single payment for SMEs, and the second - considering the issue of decreasing (for 2 years from the date of establishment of the enterprise) VAT for new manufacturing enterprises by 70 percent in order to support their formation and development.
As the minister said, the third measure envisions an exemption from corporate income tax is proposed for profits that will be reinvested in the development of production for the development and support of enterprises, and the fourth - expansion of the list of priority activities for the conclusion of investment agreements by the Government.
The fifth measure envisions simplified registration of individual entrepreneurs through a free mobile application, and within the sixth measure it’s proposed to reduce all business requirements by a third during the current year. In accordance with the 7th measure, it’s proposed to include microfinance organizations in the subsidy program ‘Business Road Map – 2025’ for increasing the availability of business financing.
The 8th measure envisions introduction of a retail tax regime for the catering sector in SMEs.
"These measures are planned to be introduced this year, which will allow by 2025 to involve 500,000 employees in official employment, increase investment in the manufacturing industry by 15 percentage points annually, reduce the shadow economy to 15 percent of GDP, given the implementation of the Shadow Economy Reduction Plan, as well as reducing the burden on the wage fund for 75 percent of micro and small businesses," concluded the minister.