Tiraspol, 6 July. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. In the past few years, Pridnestrovie has seen a decline in its core business performance, the deputy minister of economic development, Natalya Sitkina, said at the PIEF. She noted that GDP had fallen from 12.4 million roubles in 2014 to 11.5 million roubles in 2016, but the share of small business in the GDP structure had slightly increased to 10.7% over the same years.
In the meantime, the number of business organisations, as well as people working it, had decreased.
«And this trend is seen in both small and large businesses. The number of employed persons is also plummeting. In 2016, the share of citizens employed in the middle and large business was 101,000 people, and in 2014 it was 104,000 people, in the small business their number has reduced by 6,500 persons," said Natalya Sitkina.
With regard to the structure of employment, the greater number of people work in the manufacturing industry (20.7%) and trade/catering (17.9%). At the same time, only 6.6% of total employment accounts for agriculture.
Fixed asset investment had fallen by 17.2% by the end of 2016 compared to 2015, and by 27.5% compared to 2014.
«As is seen from this analysis, over the past three years, we have seen a downward trend in the core business indicators, and therefore the creation of an enabling environment, the attractiveness of the investment climate, the facilitation of business and the reduction of administrative barriers are now the priorities for the development of the whole state," said the official.
This is reflected in a road map presented at the forum. It was developed for several months together with business representatives, who proposed over 150 amendments to the document.
The document suggests several dozen events, involving several areas, each of which is supervised by a specific agency. In addition to the measures already identified, this involves the introduction of e-documentation, the improvement of the tax system, simplifies accountancy, etc. The government expects their implementation will bring about concrete results.
«We believe this will make it possible to increase the share of the small business in GDP to 12%, and the proportion of people employed in small businesses to 33% of the total number of employees. The share of small business entities engaged in manufacturing will rise to 15%," noted Sitkina.
Entrepreneurs themselves expressed their views on the road map and its possible impact on the business climate. For example, the vice president of the non-profit partnership Business Association MOST, Dmitry Goncharenko, noted the diversity of the proposals included in the document and called the government to determine its main objective, which is either reduced or increased state control of business.
«The final document comprises, of course, most of the measures which one way or another contribute to the improvement of the business climate, but there are some provisions that have little impact on the business climate, and even harm, in my view. In particular, I'd like to exclude several provisions that relate to the development of additional state standards for a particular type of service or for the state planning of an activity. It looks great on paper, but in practice, it leads to a new barrier, which is not used to improve something but rather to keep some companies away from the market," he said.
According to the businessman, to improve the environment for domestic entrepreneurship, it is necessary to define basic principles.
This was also mentioned by the first vice president of the all-Russian public organisation of small and medium-sized businesses OPORA Rossii, Pavel Sigal. He noted that in the economy of Pridnestrovie «the picture is very heavy, this is not just some kind of a one-time fall, but a systemic crisis», and drastic measures are needed to improve the situation.
«We need to take this road map once again, cast a critical glance at it in terms of achieving fundamental indicators and changing radically the situation. I believe that without this approach, you will not pull the economy out of the swamp. There are too many events, in my view. Out of these 160 events, it is necessary to single out the basic and key ones, without which all of this is useless. And the business community should control their implementation, and the country's leadership should see to it that officials should not stall their implementation," said the Russian guest.
The minister of economic development, Sergey Obolonik, commented on 2% growth in GDP, saying it is only the first step, and the primary task is to stop the decline in business activity.
«We have a 10% drop each year, specifically in the sphere of small business. These are the people who are leaving if there's a problem with their business. The first task is to stop the fall. The map, I agree, in its first edition is a slightly statutory mechanism for prioritising and making some fundamental solutions. However, the first step is to clear the field for the normal functioning of the business community," he said.
