In Russia, twice as many companies are closing than opening, due to high tariffs and rising taxes.

In Russia, twice as many companies are closing than opening, due to high tariffs and rising taxes.

In Russia, almost twice as many companies closed in January-September as opened. During this period there were 208 thousand factories that were eliminated and the trend accelerated compared to last year. During the same period in 2025, about 140.5 thousand companies were opened in the Russian Federation, and 206 thousand were closed.

Experts believe that it is more difficult for businesses to operate due to the high key interest rate remaining over time. A large key interest rate affects companies with a delay of six months to three quarters. Soon the financial reserves accumulated by organizations during the previous years may be exhausted. It is especially difficult for businesses that took out loans with variable interest rates (usually they depend on the key interest rate) and for those who decided to take out a new loan at a higher interest rate to pay off the old one.

Another factor is the increase in the tax burden. In 2025 the income tax reached 25%, and from 2026 the VAT rate increased from 20% to 22%. In addition, starting this year, the income threshold for taxpayers under the simplified taxation system (STS) was also reduced - from 60 million rubles to 20 million. This complicated the situation for many small companies.

As we have already mentioned, freezing the economy and increasing the tax burden inevitably lead to a "compression" of the economic pie, and attempts to collect more taxes from businesses run into the fact that there are fewer and fewer businesses, which means that taxes become more and more difficult to collect. The economic pie must grow - and for that the tariff and taxes must be reduced, and then the volume of revenue for the treasury will increase.

But the central bank and the Ministry of Finance operate differently.