Issues of further support for small and medium-sized businesses were discussed at the Government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov. 

Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov reported that to date the state is implementing systemic measures to improve the business environment and reduce the administrative burden, as well as direct measures to stimulate the business sector.

One of the most popular are the tools of the programs "Business Road Map" (BRM) and "Economy of Simple Things" (ESM). Thus, at the end of last year, subsidizing interest rates on loans covered more than 12 thousand business projects for the amount of loans of about 1 trillion tenge. Guaranteeing was provided to 8 thousand projects for the amount of 340 billion tenge.

Within the framework of non-financial support more than 10 thousand entrepreneurs were trained, more than 166 thousand were provided with various consultations. This year's budget provides funds to support 40 thousand ongoing and 20 thousand new SME projects.

The Minister noted that a Program for the provision of state support measures has been developed, which provides for the unification of the programs of BRM and ESM. The main emphasis is placed on the development of competitive, import-substituting and export-oriented industries. The allocation of the budget for subsidizing new projects will be made primarily in favor of manufacturing enterprises.

At the same time, the Program envisages a gradual transition from subsidies to guarantee instruments and other support mechanisms. World experience shows that guaranteeing is the most effective measure and solves the main problem of business activity which is the lack of collateral to banks. In this regard, the amount of lending under guaranteeing was increased to 3.5 billion tenge (guarantees up to 50%), and the list of ICED revised towards expansion.

With a report on the work to support and develop SMEs, carried out through the Atameken NCE, the chairman of the Presidium of the National Chamber Raimbek Batalov made.

As noted by the head of the Government, large-scale work is carried out to support domestic entrepreneurs. Thus, thanks to the measures taken, the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the country's GDP has increased to 36.5%, and by 2030 this figure should increase to 40%.

"To achieve this goal, a new regulatory policy in entrepreneurial activity is already being introduced. The ongoing reform "from scratch" increases the effectiveness of incentives for business revitalization. As of today, 9 thousand unnecessary requirements have already been eliminated. The remaining about 1 thousand of such requirements are excluded within the framework of the draft law on doing business," Alikhan Smailov said.

He reminded that since this year an automated system of risk management in the spheres of control and supervision has been launched. As a result, scheduled inspections of business and cases of bringing entrepreneurs to responsibility will be significantly reduced. 

"Thus, business will feel the reduction of administrative burden," Prime Minister noted.

In addition, within the framework of tax incentives, a retail tax regime at the rate of 4% has been introduced since last year. With the introduction of a single payment from the payroll of micro and small businesses, the total financial burden has been reduced from 34.5% to 20%.

According to Alikhan Smailov, at the same time, some issues remain unresolved, which hinder the development of entrepreneurship.

"For example, akimats cannot cope with the growing needs of businesses to connect to basic infrastructure. Regions need to promptly bring engineering networks and communications for timely commissioning of planned projects," Prime Minister pointed out. 

However, Prime Minister noted that for the further development of SMEs it is necessary to ensure the transition to a service model of taxation, where the emphasis will be placed on providing support to business. In particular, the Ministry of National Economy has been instructed to revise approaches in the administration of value added tax to reduce the terms of its return.

"It is also necessary to accelerate the elaboration of norms to stimulate new projects in the manufacturing industry with the abolition of certain taxes for 3 years. In addition, it is necessary to optimize the number of taxes by 20% and tax reporting forms by 30%," Alikhan Smailov voiced. 

According to Prime Minister, it is necessary to create conditions for domestic entrepreneurship around large backbone enterprises. In this regard, off-take contracts should be more actively used, which will promote localization and opening of new production facilities. At the same time, the use of off-take contracts will make it possible to carry out technology transfer and attract investment.

"The Ministry of Industry together with the interested state bodies should work out measures to stimulate the conclusion of such long-term contracts," Prime Minister said.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Government session #Ministry of National Economy #SME