A list of 28 affected industries has been identified that will be able to receive a preferential loan or restructure the existing one at a reduced rate. The loan rate is set at no higher than 8.5 percent per annum. To receive a preferential loan, you must contact one of the authorized banks under the SME Lending Incentive Program by December 30.
Enterprises operating under the main or additional OKVED in one of the industries included in the list (a total of 28 OKVED in the list) can apply for preferential loans. These are hotels, catering, hairdressers and beauty salons, dry cleaners, dentists, cinemas, sanatorium-resort organizations, museums, zoos. The support also applies to companies in the fields of tourism, arts and entertainment, sports and fitness, additional education, child care, conferences and exhibitions, and minor household repairs. In addition, the list includes several types of retail trade in non-food products, bus terminals and bus stations, passenger and cargo transportation enterprises.
Lending is carried out for various purposes, including refinancing at a lower rate of existing loans. At the same time, a business's loan debt under other concessional lending programs will not be an obstacle to obtaining financing within the limit.
"Entrepreneurs will be able not only to obtain new borrowed funds at a low rate, but also to restructure existing loans at a rate below 8.5%. This is possible due to the fact that the Corporation takes on some of the risks for entrepreneurs. We have provided special limits for micro and small businesses so that they can be guaranteed to receive the necessary financing," said Alexander Isaevich, CEO of SME Corporation.
Earlier, the Bank of Russia decided to allocate a special limit to support concessional lending by banks to SMEs from the list of industries most affected by temporary anti-epidemic measures, allocating 60 billion rubles for these purposes. Credit institutions will be able to attract these funds under guarantees from SME Corporations at a rate of 4% per annum for up to 1.5 years and bring them to businesses in the form of preferential loans.
Recall that on November 1, SME Bank, a subsidiary of SME Corporation, began accepting applications for preferential loans under the Government's anti-crisis program PHOT 3.0. Its extension was announced in October by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. The program provides support to industries that have been most affected by the pandemic. It provides loans to businesses for any purpose at 3% per annum with a maturity of 18 months, provided that at least 90% of jobs are retained. At the same time, the borrower is granted a six-month deferred payment.
In addition, SMEs can apply for a one-time payment in the form of a grant. It will partially cover the loss of revenue to affected enterprises and support about 3 million people. The amount of the grant, the Ministry of Economic Development explained, is calculated based on 1 minimum wage for each employee, and will allow, among other things, to ensure the payment of salaries to employees. The total amount of such support will amount to about 38.5 billion rubles. Businesses can apply for grants remotely for 1.5 months, starting on November 1 of this year, and payments will begin on November 15.