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Finance Ministry wants uniform terms of dividend payments for state-owned companies

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Russia's Finance Ministry will insist on uniform terms of payment of dividends by state-owned companies, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told reporters.

"The Finance Ministry will insist that every company should pay [dividends] as it is recorded in the government's act. The government should define [the norm of payment - TASS] and we will insist that there should not be any deviation from this procedure," the official said.

He noted that in 2016 the Finance Ministry faced the fact that some state-owned companies asked the government to grant them individual terms of dividend payment while a fixed rate of dividend payments was set.

Moiseev added that the Finance Ministry insists on calculating dividends of state companies on the basis of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

"We insist that the calculation [of dividend payment - TASS] should be based on IFRS. And now we have received the government’s support," the Deputy Minister said.

According to media reports, the Finance Ministry repeatedly submitted a draft regulation on payment of not less than 50% of the profits to the cabinet.

In January, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov returned the draft regulation to the Finance Ministry saying he was against the single standard for all state-owned companies, without exception.

By 2016, the state company paid a dividend of 25% of net profit. However, in 2016 as an anti-crisis measure, it was decided to raise the percentage to 50% of net profit under the Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) or IFRS. The Finance Ministry proposed to extend this provision for an indefinite period.