Deputy Governor of the Murmansk Region Olga Kuznetsova took part in the strategic session "Playing for a long time: mechanisms of investment policy in the Russian Arctic" within the framework of the XII International Forum "The Arctic: Present and Future", which is being held in St. Petersburg.
The participants of the session shared the mechanisms of investment policy in their regions.
Vice-Governor Olga Kuznetsova noted that the Murmansk Region is fully part of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and all businesses that start working on the territory can enjoy all the benefits arising from this status.
"In addition to property tax benefits and the right to lease land plots without conducting a bidding procedure, preferential business lending is carried out in the Murmansk Region for the purpose of replenishing the working capital of manufacturing enterprises. Lending is carried out by the regional Industrial Development Fund, established in 2022 on the basis of FORMAP, and the support it provides is very much in demand. It has helped many enterprises to stay afloat," Olga Kuznetsova said.
The Deputy Governor added that another of the serious tools to support investment activity is the conclusion of an agreement on the protection and promotion of investments. Today, the government of the Murmansk Region has concluded three such agreements – on the construction project of the underground mine of the GOK "Oleniy Ruchey", the development of the Pechegubsky deposit and the creation of a large mining and processing plant for the production of copper-nickel concentrate with platinoids "Fedorova Tundra".
"In addition, from January 1, 2022, we grant investors the right to apply an investment tax deduction for income tax. Currently, we have signed one agreement – with EuroChem for the modernization of the Kovdorsky GOK. I would like to note that the basis of the economy of the Murmansk region is the mining industry. Therefore, in order to stimulate the use of the INV mechanism in the future, we would like to propose to make changes to the method of distribution of subsidies and extend compensation also to enterprises that carry out mining," Olga Kuznetsova said.
The Deputy Governor stressed that today the Murmansk Region is the leader in the number of residents of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. 180 residents of the Arctic zone and 8 residents of the TOP "Capital of the Arctic" are registered in the region in various fields – from tourism to large industrial projects.
"Thanks to the strategic decisions taken, residents are successfully implementing investment projects in the region. Currently, the investment portfolio of the Murmansk Region includes 265 projects, as a result of which about 1.1 trillion rubles will be invested and more than 40,000 jobs will be created. In total, tax revenues from the estimated projects to budgets of all levels will amount to 442 billion rubles over 10 years. And we are already seeing tax returns from projects. According to the results of 11 months of this year, personal income tax from residents of the TOP and AZRF amounted to about 1.7 billion rubles. The measures taken to support investment activities help ensure the sustainability of the economy of our region," Olga Kuznetsova summed up.
Within the framework of the forum, Deputy Governor of the Murmansk Region Olga Kuznetsova will also take part in the plenary session "Arctic Dream: Human Potential Development in the regions of the Russian Far East".
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region/