During the meeting of the Government of the Murmansk region, First Deputy Governor Oksana Demchenko reported on the implementation of national projects in 2023. She noted that thanks to the implementation of the national project "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative", the volume of financial support provided to SMEs in the Murmansk region has increased.
Within the framework of the national project, a set of measures to support start–up and existing entrepreneurs is being implemented in the region - from entrepreneurial training to financial support for business. Among them are grants, training, loan guarantees and more.
In 2023, the main parameters of the small and medium-sized business sector in the region continued to show growth: the number of active self-employed citizens reached 28.33 thousand people, which is more than 5 times more than in 2020. Also, the number of people employed in the field of small and medium-sized enterprises, including individual entrepreneurs, amounted to 106.4 thousand people at the end of the year.
"At the same time, an important factor for the development of entrepreneurship is the availability of financial resources. So, in 2023, the regional guarantee and microfinance organization NMCC FORMAP (Fund) provided guarantees in the amount of 467.3 million rubles, which allowed small and medium–sized businesses to attract 997.0 million credit resources. Such a mechanism allows entrepreneurs to attract financing with insufficient collateral or lack thereof," Oksana Demchenko noted.
In addition, the Fund regularly updates the line of microloans for businesses at preferential interest rates. During the year, entrepreneurs were provided with preferential microloans in the amount of 492.2 million rubles. By the end of 2023, the number of active microloans provided by NMCC FORMAP for entrepreneurs, it amounted to 740 units.
Thanks to the Export Support Center of the Murmansk Region, 15 small and medium-sized businesses have been exported, and contracts worth 6.4 million US dollars have already been signed. The participation of small and medium-sized enterprises of the region in five international exhibitions in Russia, Azerbaijan, Brazil and China has been organized.
The implementation of the national project "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative" is carried out in the region within the established planned values, and in terms of the number of active self-employed citizens, the number of people employed in the field of small and medium-sized businesses, including individual entrepreneurs, the provision of microloans to self-employed citizens, attracting financing by entrepreneurs through guarantees from regional guarantee organizations, providing comprehensive services to small and medium-sized businesses, as well as information, consulting and educational services to citizens - with over–fulfillment of the plan.
/ Ministry of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region /