Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin signed a decree regarding the temporary halt on the scheduled checks of small businesses and sole traders.

The spokesperson for the Governor reports that now all the controlling executive authorities (regional and federal alike) should stop inspecting the local businesses until July 1, 2009. The Governor explains the decision was taken in order to support and protect the small businesses at the time of a financial crisis. Sumin feels the region’s government has been putting a lot of effort into making the local economy more diverse over the last decade, so it’s essential to keep it this way. What is more, nearly 600,000 people are employed in the sector at the moment, while its share in the regional GDP has come to 24%. Then, the small business contribution makes up 15% of the regional budget revenues.

Apart from halting the checks, the Governor suggested that the Ministry of Economic Development should come up with a special action plan to help the business. The measures will probably include some tax relief (the region’s top priority industries might have their tax reduced from 15% to 10% in the first quarter of 2009) and issuing patents for small businesses (this would let them pay their taxes only two rather than four times a year).

What is more, the region’s government set up a special 30-million-ruble guaranty fund meant for offering loans to small businesses. Another 70 million RUR will be provided from the federal budget in March, with 100 million RUR more coming from a number of authorized banks.

Finally, the government is planning on offering lower prices on the state and municipal property small businesses might like to rent.