Russian agribusiness seeks $13 bln for WTO accession
2012-02-17 16:58:57
Representatives of Russian agriculture are seeking compensation worth 400 billion rubles ($13 billion) due to Russia's accession to the WTO, Chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin wrote in a letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, reports the Vedomosti newspaper.
Shokhin asked the government to support Russian agriculture; in his opinion, Russian agricultural enterprises is indebted to the tune of 1.5 trillion rubles and will not be able to compete with foreign producers. In addition, it also complicates the work of creditor banks, including the work of Russia's state-controlled Rosselkhozbank.
In particular, the RSPP Chairman considers it necessary to write off farmers’ debts, compensate agricultural producers a significant part of capital expenditure, extend the zero tax rate on profit before tax until 2020 (it is now valid until 2013), write off penalties and interest on lease payments, and increase participation of the state in production costs.
A source in the government stated that farmers were using accession to the WTO "to write off everything that is possible and impossible."
According to the RBC daily newspaper Igor Shuvalov instructed the Economic Ministry to show how they could negate the negative consequences for farmers after accession to the WTO.
Rosselkhozbank on February 16 said that it has planned to create a fund for Russian agriculture. The capital stock is to come from the federal budget and will total around $4.5 billion.