Russia working on creating industry support funds through special industrial levies - industry and trade minister

MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The Industry and Trade Ministry is working with relevant agencies to establish support funds for specific industries, which will be financed through special industrial levies, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said.

"We believe that an industrial levy could serve as an instrument for creating special dedicated funds aimed at particularly important industries or subsectors," Alikhanov said during a government hour session at the Federation Council. Microelectronics could be among such sectors, he said.

The day before, at a meeting of the Federation Council's Economic Policy Committee, Alikhanov said that the market protection mechanism in the form of a recycling fee had proven effective in the automotive industry and could be adapted for other sectors.

During Wednesday's government hour, Alikhanov said that the proposal concerns industrial levies across various sectors, which would form the basis for creating support funds. It is planned that the concept of an "industrial levy" will be incorporated into Russia's industrial policy law. Industrial policy already provides for the possibility of establishing such funds, he said.

"We've already explored the potential administration of such levies. Let me emphasize again, they could be implemented as temporary measures with time-limited application, given their targeted nature for specific initiatives," he said.