The most effective measures to support citizens and businesses in Russia during the coronavirus pandemic were preferential mortgages at 6.5%, preferential loans to support employment at 2% and direct assistance to Russians with children. This opinion was expressed by the head of Sberbank German Gref on the air of the TV channel “Russia 1” on Sunday, February 13.
“In my opinion, these are probably three such instruments. The first is support for mortgages, mortgage lending. On the one hand, the budget spent very little, but on the other hand, the mortgage grew by 20% last year, ”he said.
The head of Sberbank called this “a very, very good indicator”, stressing that such support “helped a lot of people to buy housing.”
According to him, it is indicative that the program also supported the construction sector, which increased profits last year compared to 2019.
The second most effective measure, Gref called soft loans at 2%, which will be written off to companies if they can save jobs. He noted that this program is a unique tool for the world, which “worked very positively, and many companies kept jobs, did not fire their employees.”
The third measure – direct assistance to citizens with children – he called “very, very important” support “in such a difficult period of time.”
In Russia, on June 1 last year, loans were launched at 2% to support employment in companies from industries affected by the pandemic by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The debt must be repaid by April 1, 2021. If, during the entire duration of the program, the enterprise retains employment at the level of 90% or more of its current staffing level, after the loan expires, the loan itself and the interest on it will be completely written off, these costs will be borne by the state.
The program to subsidize mortgage interest rates up to 6.5% was launched in April 2020. It was supposed to end on November 1 of the same year. However, in October, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin extended it until July 1, 2021. In early February, the Kremlin said that the issue of extending the program is currently being actively discussed.
In an address to the nation on May 11, the Russian leader announced direct payments to children amid the pandemic. Since June 1, citizens have been able to receive 10 thousand rubles for each child aged three to 16 years. At the end of the same month, the President announced an additional payment of 10 thousand rubles for children under 16 years old.