Russian economy a footstep away from $1 trillion in investments?

Owners of Russia's largest companies and billionaires from 'Russia's Forbes ranking are ready to invest 70 trillion rubles in the Russian economy.

This will happen if there is a mechanism to stabilize the conditions for doing business, as provided for in the bill on protection and promotion of investment and investment opportunity development, which was submitted to the State Duma in early November, the Izvestia newspaper reported, citing Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Andrey Ivanov.

"We got projects worth 70 trillion rubles," he said. "That is, there are a lot of requests (for regulation)," Ivanov said.

He also noted that the financial ministry plans to attract 30 trillion in investments until 2024.

The investor signs an agreement with the government on investing at least 250 million rubles in a social sphere project (education, healthcare, etc.); 1.5 billion rubles to the project in the digital economy, manufacturing or agriculture; 5 billion rubles - in projects of other areas. The investor undertakes to complete the project, and the government - to compensate it for damage if the terms of the contract are violated.

Head of the State Duma’s Committee for Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that non-changing conditions are crucial for effective business. "After all, the instability and uncertainty of the future are most worrying for entrepreneurs," he said.

"In addition, tax breaks are needed for the start-up period. When businessmen invest, they need the opportunity not to pay taxes until these facilities become cost-effective. Another important factor is reducing administrative burdens on the business as much as possible," the head of the State Duma’s Committee for Financial Markets stressed.

"The total amount of companies' funds in bank accounts is about 30 trillion rubles, mainly working capital. In addition, about 8 trillion rubles are depreciation allowances. About 18 trillion rubles - the profit, which has recently been used as dividend payments. Also there are investments in foreign assets, funds held in accounts in U.S. banks, and their amount is comparable to those held in Russia. Thus, it is quite possible to expect 70 trillion of investment," Anatoly Aksakov concluded.