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Russian small business sector grows 4.5% in three years — research study

Public procurements under Federal Law 44 are purchases of goods, work and services made using budgetary funds, with the best bid selected via competitive tenders

YEKATERINBURG, June 29. /TASS/. The number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Russia expanded by 4.5% from 2020 to 2023, with companies expecting an increase in the number of public procurement tenders, according to research by the Kontur.Torgi project obtained by TASS.

"Over the past three years, starting June 10, 2020, the number of SMEs increased by 4.5%, [rising] to 6,307,055 entities. The number of companies is on the rise. Business is expecting support from the state and that the state will provide business with opportunities to earn revenues, meaning increasing the number of tenders businesses can bid in," project expert Vasily Danilchik was quoted as saying.

In turn, the amount of completed procurement tenders in which SMEs participated under Federal Law 44, which regulates public procurement, rose in value from 1.35 trillion rubles in 2020 to 1.69 trillion rubles in 2022. The share of SMEs in the total amount of tenders grew by 2% in the reporting period up to 37%.

Under Federal Law 223, which regulates procurements for certain legal entities, the value of completed tenders rose from 1.88 trillion to 2.16 trillion rubles in the same period. The share of purchases for SMEs also saw growth. "This year, clients have held tenders worth more than 760 billion rubles ($8.6 billion) for small-and medium-sized enterprises under Federal Law 44, and worth 840 billion rubles under Federal Law 223," according to the research.

Public procurements under Federal Law 44 are purchases of goods, work and services made using budgetary funds, with the best bid selected via competitive tenders.

Procurements under Federal Law 223 are purchases of goods, work and services where the best bid is selected via competitive tenders. The law only defines the limits within which customers can set their own rules. Customers for such procurements are state-owned companies, natural monopoly entities, state corporations with a government stake of at least 50%, and others.

Kontur.Torgi is a set of professional services within the Kontur ecosystem that helps business work with procurements.

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