SYKTYVKAR, April 17. /TASS/. The Komi Region's authorities managed to stop the long-term negative downward trend in the number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), as their number grew by 520, or 2%, to 25,700 by the beginning of 2025. Most of them are individual entrepreneurs, the region's Ministry of Economic Development, Industry and Transport told TASS.
At the International Arctic Forum in Murmansk in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the government to adjust parameters for incentives offered to small and medium-sized businesses in the Far North, and to expand the list of industries for such incentives. The service sector in the Arctic needs to be stimulated, including with preferential loans, thus responding to the people's requests, the president said.
"Our key task was to ensure the growing number of people engaged in entrepreneurship. We have completed this task," the region's ministry told TASS. "Largely due to various incentives from the Komi Region's government, small and medium-sized businesses have maintained stable performance: for example, since 2023, we have managed to stop the long-term negative downward trend in the number of SMBs - by the beginning of 2025, their number increased by more than 520 year-on-year - to 25,700."
Presently, those 25,700 SMBs are 7,600 legal entities, and 18,200 individual entrepreneurs, plus, in addition, almost 44,000 self-employed people. Small companies have 50,000 employees, almost 32,000 are individual entrepreneurs and their employees, and more than 23,000 are active self-employed people.
Incentives to support small and medium-sized businesses to 2030 will include: preferential loans, government guarantees, preferential leasing of machinery and equipment, loans for industrial projects. Direct financial support will be used in the form of subsidies and grants, modern production and engineering facilities ready for business, My Business Center services, and tax incentives.
"Most of these tools allow for horizontal support for several types of economic activities. The identification of priority industries allows for more preferential conditions for industries that need new or developing SMBs," the ministry said.
Preferential loans from 3% per annum
For example, the Micro-Credit Company of the Komi Region has retained the most preferential interest rates, offering 16 microcredit programs with interest rates from 3 to 12% per annum. Priority categories - agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing - receive microloans for any purpose at 4% per annum, business residents of the Arctic Zone - at 5% per annum.
In 2024, the region introduced new programs for priority sectors - tourism and transport, where microloans may be obtained at 3% and 5.5% per annum, respectively. The anti-crisis program using 3% per annum in the first year, 7% per annum in the second year continues for social enterprises, entrepreneurs of single-industry towns and rural trade, and 12% for all the rest.
"The demand for such financial support measures from SMBs is high. The volume of microloans increased in 2024 by more than 1.1 times against 2023 to 458.2 million rubles ($5.6 million). The loans portfolio is growing thus indicating that new loan disbursements exceed their repayments," the Komi Region's authority added.
Komi's four of 20 municipalities are part of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone - those are cities Vorkuta, Inta, Usinsk, and the Ust-Tsilemsky District. All other municipalities are districts of the Far North. The number of business residents in the region increased by 8% in 2024, to 37, and another 94 businesses are potential residents.