Ugra Government Will Finance Salvation of Small Business

27.04.2009 — News

KhMAO.

The Ugra Government is establishing a 400 million roubles Direct Investment Fund. Half of the money will come from the federal and regional budgets, whilst the remainder is going to come from a large third-party investor.

The Ugra Government informed RusBusinessNews, small businesses face the problem of the lack of available credit recourses. Business people are unable to get long term loans at reasonable interest rates in the time of the financial crisis. The Fund will be managed by Ugra Finance Management Company and will invest into small businesses in various sectors of economy through purchasing 25% or more of their shares.This is the first regional fund of this kind in Russia.

There are more than 40,000 self-employed entrepreneurs and 7,000 small and medium businesses operating in Ugra today. This Russian region's economy is still diversifying thanks to the development of small businesses; 90% of the region's economy depends on oil and gas production. In 2009 the Government spending on the state support program for small and medium business will amount to 1.7 billion roubles.