Penza, 23 July 2015. PenzaNews. The acting chairman of the Penza region government Valery Savin instructed the workers of the local Ministry of Industry to investigate the reasons behind the decreased turnout of the local small enterprises and prepare a package of measures to improve the situation during the regular session of the regional government held on Thursday, July 23.

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After hearing out the report of the acting Economy Minister Rauf Chakaev, he asked the acting deputy minister, head of Business Development Department of the Penza region Ministry of Industry Alexei Kostin, about the reasons behind this situation. In return, the latter replied that the largest enterprises need the most support.

“We have active growth in food industry, furniture making, IT, device construction. We think these are the fields that need more work,” Alexei Kostin stressed.

In his turn, Valery Savin noted that the head of Kuznetsk town administration Sergei Zlatogorsky told him that the furniture makers “all idle right now,” contrary to the report, as their production has no demand.

In his turn, Alexei Kostin explained that the situation in the industry is quite ambiguous, and the enterprises of the likes of “Lerom” still overcome the hurdles and even manage to export their goods.

“While they [other furniture makers] work like sweatshops, don’t work on improvement, since they don’t go to us [to the Industry Ministry]. And they don’t, because they don’t pay taxes. Of course they will be poorer. Sooner or later, economy will give everyone their worth. Those who put resources into design, into staff education, show growth. Of course growing is tough. The confectionary makers work at their limits. We were in Mokshan, for example: their growth is 31%. Why? Because their ‘Nevsky Konditer’ works 24/7. These are who need support. We have the import replacement program in this field, but it is obsolete, we already work on export. This is where I see the future for our economy,” he said.

According to Valery Savin, the officials must find out why “the enterprises that form the budgets of the likes of Kuznetsk with no big taxpayers and industries idle.”

“We have over 1,000 entrepreneurs who form the tax base of Kuznetsk. And there are quite a few of such small towns in the region right now,” the official noted.

He added that the assisters in 2015-2016 must find out the correct steps to support small enterprises.

“Of course they are not in the best situation right now compared to the companies you listed. And we must work with this category, as otherwise they will add to the ranks of the unemployed in the future where the situation is alarming as well. No serious risks yet, but the first alarm had been sounded,” Valery Savin stressed.