According to a report from SME Corporation, small and medium-sized Russian enterprises tapped nearly 92.5 billion rubles in funding during the first ten months of 2023 through a unified preferential investment loan program. More than 950 businesses benefited from the program within that period.
Experts noted that the initiative was formed by combining the Ministry of Economic Development’s 1764 program with the PSK framework of the Bank of Russia and the SME Institution.
First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Andrei Belousov, emphasized that the preferential loan program enables firms to launch new investment projects, expand production, develop import-substitution goods, and create new jobs.
“These tools support a supply-side economy; this is a priority laid out by the country’s president,” he stated.
Maxim Reshetnikov, Russia’s Minister of Economic Development, announced that despite a rise in the key rate, the PSK+1764 program maintains preferential terms for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in manufacturing, logistics, hotel management, and professional, scientific, and technical activities.
Mikhail Mamuta, head of the Bank of Russia’s Consumer Rights Protection and Financial Accessibility Service, noted that 2024 will see the Lending Incentive Program limit fully redirected toward the PSK mixed program. “Banks are expected to offer annual loans up to 100 billion rubles for priority SME investment projects through 2030,” he said.
Under the PSK+1764 initiative, SMEs in the manufacturing sector actively sourced funding during the first ten months of 2023. Specifically, 670 companies received over 53 billion rubles. An additional 162 entities in transportation and storage secured roughly 26.6 billion rubles for their projects. In the hotel sector, 109 companies were extended a total of 11.4 billion rubles in investment loans. Firms involved in scientific and technical activities also received around 1 billion rubles, according to Alexander Isaevich, the General Director of SME Corporation.
The program enables privileged financing for SMEs operating in prioritized sectors, offering investment loans ranging from 50 million to 2 billion rubles with repayment terms of up to ten years and a five-year grace period.
The PSK+1764 preferential investment loan program operates under the national project Small and Medium Enterprises, an initiative launched by President Vladimir Putin and overseen by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov.