The head of “Business Russia” called obstacles to the development of the new economy

The development of new sectors of the Russian economy is hampered by fears of entrepreneurs and their tendency to receive passive income instead of active investment, said the head of Business Russia Alexei Repik in an interview with RBC.

“Fear, uncertainty, uncertainty. The fact that when there is a good initiative, the resource for it is sought for a long time. The fact that our business has become very mature is not as adventurous as before. Flibusters, which we were 25 years ago, have become quite captains of industries, Repik listed the main obstacles to the development of the Russian economy.

Entrepreneurs who started business in the 1990s now run large companies and are less willing to take risks.

“They find it difficult to go beyond the horizon: the cost of error is high and often, instead of investing, they choose passive income — the logic of rentiers or keeping the business as it is (as it is now). — RBC) — said the head of “Business Russia”.

Rentier logic is a model of economic behavior in which a person (or organization) focuses on receiving regular passive income from existing assets - real estate, securities, capital and other sources.

Repik believes that even successful investments do not always lead to the development of new directions. As an example, he cited the situation with the construction of another enterprise next to the existing one.

“When a business is successful, it is a good idea to build another similar plant next to an existing one, but this approach focuses on where the result is already. This will not provide us with leadership and does not even guarantee the management of the backlog, he said.

Speaking about the future of the Russian economy, Repik said that its development depends on the ability to turn entrepreneurial initiative, talent and the desire to create new projects into economic growth. In his opinion, to achieve competitiveness, it is necessary to focus entrepreneurial resources on priority areas.

“In a number of industries, I believe we need not leadership, but management of the backlog: this will allow us to focus on the areas where we are doing and doing best.” This is where we have to fight for leadership. In other areas, let’s say we get some technology three to six months later than the pioneers. Maybe it’s not that important if it’s three times cheaper.

On October 15, President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with representatives of Business Russia said that Russia faces the task of launching a new investment cycle and increasing investments in promising projects. He gave the leading role to business and promised to continue state support for investment activity.

A few days earlier, RBC wrote that Business Russia had formed a program of more than 50 initiatives to transform the Russian economy. Among them is the abolition of some preferential regimes for SMEs, the introduction of inheritance tax and contributions for non-working rentiers. At the same time, Repik told RBC that this document has an “extremely conditional” relation to the agenda of the Business Russia forum. The exception is the concept of applying an investment tax deduction.

The Ministry of Finance, in turn, told RBC that he considered the proposals of “Business Russia”. They, as explained in the Department, “require additional comprehensive work.”.

The full text of the interview with Alexei Repik can be read in the RBC subscription.