Sergei Bakeshin has commented for the Novy Prospect on statistics on the liquidation of companies in 2020
According to Rosstat (Federal State Statistic Service), for 10 months of 2020 in Russia 444.79 thousand enterprises and organizations were officially liquidated, which is 23% more than in the same period of 2019 and 2.3 times more than the newly registered companies. The dynamics for St Petersburg is also negative. According to the Unified Register of Small and Medium Enterprises, the number of small and medium enterprises in the city decreased for 9.5%, and microenterprises – for12.3%. At the same time until January 7, 2021 in Russia has a moratorium on bankruptcy of firms from sectors affected by the coronavirus, which is still holding back the mass closure of businesses.
As Sergei Bakeshin, Senior Associate and Head of Dispute Resolution and Insolvency Practice at Maxima Legal, explained to the Novy Prospect online publication, different reasons, and more often their combination, contribute to the closure of businesses. Among the main ones, according to the expert, are the decline in revenues, the fall of the ruble and the corresponding increase in costs, as well as the inability to conduct business normally due to coronavirus restrictions, the unplanned cost of paying employees “presidential” weekends, the additional pressure from the control and supervisory authorities that need to collect taxes, fees and fines.
At the same time, Sergei suggested that the overall statistics of liquidated organizations includes enterprises excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as inactive or having an unreliable address. “The work on their exclusion the registering bodies are now very active”, said the expert. In addition, Sergei drew attention to the withdrawal of foreign investors from the Russian market. “The Russian market is becoming less interesting because of the economic downturn, the falling ruble and, possibly, political risks. According to our observations, foreigners are in no hurry to invest in Russia now,” stressed Sergei Bakeshin.
To read the full article (in Russian) please see the Novy Prospect website >>>