Medvedev: Russian tax system competitive compared with other OECD countries
GORKI. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The predictability of tax conditions in Russia remains attractive for investors compared with the fiscal regimes in other OECD countries and together with higher returns this gives Russia an advantage, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
"We will maintain a course toward formation of stable and predictable tax conditions. The level of the tax burden remains competitive among numerous jurisdictions, at any rate compared with the OECD countries. Given the higher returns, this gives our economy certain advantages, we hope," Medvedev said at a meeting of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council on Monday.
The government also plans to bring order to nontax payments, "because for business this is often one and the same. The corresponding legislation is currently being drafted," Medvedev said.
"We also continue to work on interstate treaties to avoid double taxation, in order not just to provide traditional guarantees on protection of investment and income, but also create additional stimulus for reinvesting capital in our country," Medvedev said.
A lot of investors remain interested in Russia, he said. "This is understandable. Our economy, despite all of the various restrictions, continues to grow, not just GDP, but a whole host of economic indicators: the volume of industrial output, freight turnover, capital investment, and export indicators, and inflation remains at a level that makes it possible to maintain macroeconomic stability. We value this."
"Sovereign external debt is shrinking, financial reserves are not declining but increasing, and for the first time in several years we have drafted a budget with a surplus," he said.
"Of course, there are those that have left our market, following in the path of the political situation. Conversely, others have become more willing to proceed to localize production, are calling to Russia their traditional suppliers from other countries, setting up local business, and this has a positive effect on production costs," he said.
"We will bring investors into major projects with state participation. Here, it would be desirable to turn attention to infrastructure development projects. We are going to expand the sphere of application of mechanisms of state-private partnership and simplify procedures for concluding concessions," he said.