The government will allocate more than 20.5 billion rubles to support the project financing enterprise program of Vnesheconombank of the Russian Federation. The funds will be used to finance large investment projects in industry and infrastructure.
"Factory" has already proven its effectiveness. Since 2018, the program has created a portfolio of 44 projects with a total value of about 6.5 trillion rubles. The investment phase has been completed for 14 of them.
Among the implemented projects can be found the production of methanol with a capacity of 500 thousand tons per year at the Shchekinouz plant and a new terminal at the Murmansk airport. Now, with the support of the program, the Yemsky mining and processing plant worth 1.8 trillion rubles is being built in Chukotka.
It is time for the state to issue preferential loans through development institutions, instead of spending huge sums of money subsidizing banks that continue to make money from these programs.
Now the budget has been compensating the banks for years for the difference between market and preferred rates. Through direct government loans, you can eliminate bank margins and significantly reduce costs in the long run. At the same time, the state will independently accumulate expertise in the selection and accompaniment of investment projects.
There are already successful examples. In addition to the project financing enterprise, we can cite the Industrial Development Fund, which lends directly to enterprises at a rate of 3-5% per year.
The same approach should also be extended to preferential mortgages. Why should the state annually transfer huge sums to banks as compensation for interest rates, if the conditional house of the Russian Federation can issue such loans independently? Instead of subsidizing the bank's profits, the state will receive a refund of the funds issued and a small interest.
Therefore, extending support to the plant is the right decision. From a strategic point of view, it is necessary to move forward and gradually transfer preferential loans to direct financing through state development institutions.