Russian businesses transfer hundreds of billions of roubles to treasury at Putin's request

Major Russian businessmen have transferred hundreds of billions of roubles to the federal budget after Russian leader Vladimir Putin called on them to make voluntary contributions to the state treasury.

Source: The Moscow Times

Details: Putin called for voluntary contributions amid a record deficit, the publication recalls. As of mid-August, according to the Electronic Budget system, such contributions had already totalled RUB 383.69 billion (approx. US$4.5 billion).

Before Putin's meeting with business representatives in March, at which he proposed that entrepreneurs help the budget according to The Bell's sources, contributions to the treasury from non-state organisations amounted to RUB 15.6 billion (US$184 million), the publication states.

Over the following month, the sum of donations increased tenfold, to RUB 159.7 billion (US$1.8 billion). In May, according to the Russian publication Vedomosti, it grew by 45.5%, in June by 27%, and over July and the first half of August by a further 30%.

"The fact that Russian business is helping the budget is a fact," said Aleksandr Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. According to him, businessmen transferred funds not only from corporate but also from family foundations.

Sources of the Expert magazine reported that the government expects to receive approximately RUB 300 billion (US$3.5 billion) in voluntary contributions from businesses by the end of the year.

Background:

• It was previously reported that the Kremlin wants to improve Russia's financial situation through voluntary contributions from oligarchs, and some of them have already agreed, considering it a "debt for the 90s", when they launched their businesses.
• The Kremlin leader signed a decree allowing companies that fail to fulfil state orders during martial law to be placed under external administration.
• Putin said that companies which "slammed the door defiantly" and left the Russian market would not be allowed to buy back their assets at low prices or reclaim their former market positions.
• It was also reported that several of Russia's wealthiest individuals, including those close to Putin, have transferred billions of dollars abroad over the past year, as they grow increasingly concerned about the state of the country's economy and the state budget.

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