(Read the full article on TASS.RU)

The government will allocate up to 20 billion rubles for soft loans to businesses from industries affected by the pandemic, as well as about 38.5 billion rubles for grants to small and medium-sized enterprises. This was announced at a cabinet meeting on Thursday by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

According to him, the government is completing the preparation of a regulatory framework for additional measures to support business in the face of an increase in the incidence of covid. In particular, we are talking about the payroll 3.0 program for enterprises and organizations from the most affected sectors of the economy.

“The issuance of new loans under the [program] FOT 3.0 will begin as early as November 1 and will end at the end of the year. We will additionally allocate up to 20 billion rubles from the budget for the implementation of the program,” Mishustin said. A loan at 3% can be obtained at the rate of one minimum wage for each employee, and in the first six months there will be a deferred payment, and then the loan can be repaid in equal installments within 12 months.

The head of the Cabinet noted that earlier such a program had shown its relevance; by July 1 of this year, more than 16 thousand loan agreements worth about 60 billion rubles had been concluded under it. “The main goal of the program is to preserve the employment and operational activities of organizations, because even during the period of restrictions, they have obligations for wages, rent, utility payments,” the prime minister recalled.