The third set of supporting measures for Moscow business was adopted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to maintain and stimulate economic activity in the current difficult epidemiological situation, on April 15, 2020, the Moscow Government has adopted a third set of measures aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. According to the decree on the implementation of the third business support measures, a credit support program for small and medium enterprises will be launched in the coming days. This program includes the following aspects:

• for previously taken loans, the city budget will subsidize interest rates up to 6% per annum;

• for new “stabilization” loans for financing current activities, they will subsidize the rate up to 8%.

This program will be implemented by the Moscow government in cooperation with commercial banks. At the same time, Sberbank will be the largest operator of the loan program, with which, a consensus has already been reached on granting a delay of 6 months to pay the main amount of debt. Practically the only condition for provision of credit funds to small and medium-sized enterprises is their use for the purposes of a business activities in Moscow, mainly for the payment of wages to employees.

Moreover, decision on implementation of the third set includes the following support measures:

• granting a deferral until December 31, 2020 on advance payments for the first quarter of the current year on corporate property tax and land tax, which will be received by around 300 organizations, including cinemas, additional education organizations and health resorts;

• providing for certain categories of tenants an interest-free delay in terms of paying rent for the 2nd quarter of 2020 for land owned by the city of Moscow. The deferral is presented until December 31, 2020. Earlier, tenants from the most suffered areas were exempted from paying rental payments for the period from March 1, 2020 until termination of high alert or until the date of resumption of activity by decision of state authorities, bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

• providing landlords leasing premises for hotel accommodation, property tax compensation and land payments for the second quarter of this year. An important condition for the provision of compensation is the reduction by the tenants of rental rate by at least than fifty percent;

• providing owners who use real estate for entrepreneurial activities in the field of trade, public catering, household services and hotel business with fifty percent compensation for property tax and land payments for the second quarter of 2020;

• providing construction and development businesses with deferred payments when changing the purpose of land provision and other similar payments to the city budget;

• transfer of redemption payments of the second quarter to the end of 2020, provided to entrepreneurs who have previously concluded repurchase agreements for real estate rented from the city.

In addition, subsidy programs have been expanded for small and medium-sized businesses that continue to invest in new equipment or fulfill export orders.

Thus, the measures taken by Moscow authorities are aimed at directly maintaining the stability of the business activities of enterprises, whose activities were threatened by the dissemination of coronavirus infection.

VALEN specialists are ready to provide qualified legal support, given the measures in force during the pandemic.