OREANDA-NEWS. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and Nomos Bank signed a 2016 partnership agreement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The agreement purports to intensify, and improve the quality of, lending to industrial enterprises participants in investment projects aimed at establishing and developing industrial production facilities and infrastructure.

As part of the co-operation, the bank will, in the first place, finance and provide loans to industrial enterprises, stimulate long-term loan financing of the industry, etc.

The agreement with the bank will help Russian industrial enterprises obtain affordable loans under a simplified procedure. As part of the co-operation, the Ministry will update the bank on industrial projects in need of loan financing and their participants.

“Agreements with bankers are intended to encourage investments in building new enterprises and new industrial infrastructure in our country. Affordable loans will encourage enterprises to invest more”, said the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. “We welcome the interest the banking institutions have taken in rendering financial support to the priority investment areas, including mechanical engineering and processing industries.”

“The agreement is meant, in the first place, for the benefit of companies qualifying for subsidies from the government. To identify these, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will, twice a year, hold special tenders and shortlist the best comprehensive investment projects in the priority areas of civil industry.”

The project's mission is to support enterprises that introduce new intellectual products and import-substituting and resource-saving technologies or manufacture unique products. Its another aspect is government support to enterprises creating high-performance workplaces.

Authors of the most promising projects worth RUB150 million to RUB2 billion will be refunded by the state part of interest payments under the loans provided by Russian lending institutions in 2014-2016.

The first tender was launched in May to last until 10 June. The banks planning to sign partnership agreements with the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum have confirmed that RUB 10 billion worth of loans will be extended to winners. The government will, in turn, support the borrowers by subsidising their interest costs up to 90 percent of the discount rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and thus significantly easing their loan debt burden.