The problems of SMEs, rents and insurance were discussed at Atameken

On 12^th of July, a joint meeting of the Committees for the Development of SMEs and Trade of the Presidium of NCE RK "Atameken" took place.

"We have three issues on the agenda. First of all, we are talking about the implementation of non-financial support for SMEs within the framework of the "Roadmap of business 2020"; the second, on the possibility of indexing the rent; and third, the introduction of CSHI. I want to note that many entrepreneurs do not understand the specifics of compulsory social health insurance", - said Kairat Mazhibaev, Chairman of the Committee of Trade of the Presidium of NCE RK "Atameken".

Atameken has been in charge of non-financial business support measures since 2015 under the state program of Roadmap of Business 2020. Service support for business and information support have become tools for these state support measures.

"Service support is provided to small and medium-sized enterprises. For entrepreneurs, specialized services are provided free of charge, as individual consultations. As for the quality, the staff of the department and I personally go to the regional centers, and there, as a secret buyer, we evaluate the quality of services. There is a call-center, whose specialists call entrepreneurs and get feedback to improve this or that component. I want to note that the annual plan of 30 thousand services, which we had to provide in the regional centers, has been fulfilled. 32,000 services were rendered", - said the director of the regional development department of Atameken, Nariman Abilshaikov.

Today, service support is provided at 27 Centers for Entrepreneurship (CE) in all regions of the country. 189 Centers for the Support of Entrepreneurship (CE) are located in regional centers, single-industry towns and cities of non-regional significance.

In 2015, 57,345 services were provided to 35,199 subjects of small and medium-sized businesses. In 2016, 66 112 services were provided to 46,000 entrepreneurs. Approximately 4,500 projects were supported totaling more than 38 billion tenge. Since 2015, appeals to Centers for Servicing Entrepreneurs and Business Support Center have increased 2.5 times.

Since 2018, the "Competence Center" should become the single operator (single window) for all tools for business support. This will allow, first of all, to achieve more effective implementation of projects and eliminate duplication of services.

Kairat Mazhibayev noted the vague notion of not financial support among SMEs.

"Non-financial support was aimed at making the work of those enterprises you are helping more effective from a legal and technological point of view. When we look at the following current plans, it is important to know how effective your product is. This will improve the consolidation of business projects around Atameken", - suggested the Chairman of the Trade Committee of the Presidium of NCE RK "Atameken".

During the period of rendering services by state bodies, there was a lot of criticism around non-financial support, but when Atameken took up this issue, support was reoriented for each specific entrepreneur.

The participants of the event noted the importance of feedback in the regions. For example, Kyzylorda region has already informed that they are interested in practical examples rather than theory related to training, business planning and so on.

In turn, Gulnara Kuanganova, deputy director of the Association "Forum of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan" proposed to focus support on single-industry towns.

In the framework of the program, it is not always possible to devote time to a particular problem, says Nurzhan Altayev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE RK "Atameken". He suggested collecting all comments and questions and discussing them with the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for making changes.

The next issue on the agenda is the possibility of indexing rent. Today, the overwhelming majority of trade and service enterprises rent premises and directly depend on the cost of rent.

Depending on the direction, businessmen spend on rent from 5% to 30% of the company's turnover. With an increase in the cost of the lease itself, which in most leases of commercial premises is linked to foreign currency, the entrepreneur either has to raise the price of the goods, or keep the price at the current level in order to preserve demand at the expense of his profit.

"Given the current crisis situation and the decline in purchasing power, demand, even with price restraints, is falling. This leads to an even greater reduction in profitability and a decline in entrepreneurial activity throughout the country. In turn, this recession will also lead to a reduction in tax deductions", - KATEKS representative Sergei Arkhipkin said.

The member countries of the EAEU are taking appropriate measures to include amendments to the RLAs aimed at abolishing the calculation of rent payments in foreign currency. For example, in Russia, a draft law was compiled, which prohibits retailers to publish rental rates in foreign currency.

In Kazakhstan, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 282 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, monetary obligations on the territory of the country should be expressed in tenge, with the exception of cases provided for by legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The use of foreign currency, as well as payment documents in foreign currency when making settlements for obligations in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan is allowed in cases and on terms determined by legislative acts or in the order established by them. Nevertheless, paragraph 3 of Article 282 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for the indexation of payments under long-term obligations as a way of minimizing currency risks on terms stipulated by the parties.

"With regard to the indexation of payments linked to the foreign exchange rate when concluding a lease, the current legislation of Kazakhstan needs certain additions that will allow to cancel lease payments in foreign currency", - the expert added.

The meeting participants also discussed the introduction of compulsory health insurance.

In Kazakhstan, the mandatory social health insurance system (MSHI) is being introduced from 1^st of July 2017, the rate of deductions for employers was 1% of the employee's salary, but not more than 15 times the minimum wage. The first payments to MSHI began to be paid by employers and individual entrepreneurs, lawyers, private notaries. The amount of payments by the IP is 5% of 2 MW or 2 445.9 KZT under conditions of 2017.

"If we talk about ideology, are the stakes high? The international experience was studied, we have analyzed rates in other countries. For example, in Germany it is 15.5%, Slovakia - 14.0%, France - 13.6%, the Czech Republic - 13.5%, Estonia - 13.0%, Slovenia - 12.09%, Romania - 10, 7%, Lithuania - 9%, and in Kazakhstan, the rate for the employer for 2017 is only 1%", - said Zabira Orazalieva, managing director of health care users of JSC" Social Health Insurance Fund".

It should be reminded that Atameken together with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Fund for Mandatory Medical Insurance prepared answers to frequently asked questions. You can read them here. At the end of the meeting, participants on all three issues heard all proposals and comments, and determined a further plan of action.