Roman Khitushchenko: FEZ is an effective tool for attracting investment

The Free Economic Zone (FEZ) has established itself as an effective tool for attracting investment into the economy of Crimea. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Republic of Crimea Roman Khitushchenko at the discussion platform of the forum "Business Crimea. Together. Go ahead." "To date, there are 1,275 FEZ participants in Crimea. The minimum declared investment volume for these projects is about RUB 150 billion, including more than RUB 108 billion, it is capital investment. As a result of the implementation of the projects, over 58 thousand jobs will be created. I think these are not bad figures and we really have something to be proud of," Khitushchenko said during the discussion of the Crimean FEZ. He spoke about the innovations that have been in effect since this year. For example, the "entry threshold" in terms of capital investment for new FEZ participants has been doubled. For small and medium sized businesses, it now amounts to RUB 6 million, for large businesses – RUB 60 million. In addition, organizations that have opened their branches on the territory of Crimea can become residents. FEZ participants can also take out a loan on preferential terms from «PSB», «Bank Rossiya» and «RNСB». According to the Office of the Federal Tax Service in the Republic of Crimea, FEZ participants receive substantial preferences. For the entire existence of the Free Economic Zone, this amount has exceeded RUB 57 billion. In this regard, the year 2021 was indicative, when the amount of preferences amounted to RUB 14 billion. "These are released funds that need to be reinvested, taxes paid, and new jobs created. This is the meaning of the Free Economic Zone," the Deputy Minister said. Representatives of the banking sector spoke to the participants of the discussion, who told about credit programs for residents of the FEZ.
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The Free Economic Zone has been operating in the republic since 2015. Residents are exempt from paying property tax for ten years, land tax for three years and import customs duties and taxes. In addition, land plots are provided to FEZ residents without bidding. Forum "Business Crimea. Together. Go ahead" was held in Alushta on May 26th-27th, 2022. The Crimean Entrepreneurship Support Fund with the assistance of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Crimea was organized as part of the implementation of the national project "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative".