"Most of the 10 ASEAN countries are ready to accept Mir cards

Most of the 10 ASEAN countries are ready to accept Mir cards when paying, CCI President Sergey Katyrin said in an interview with Izvestia at the WEF-2025. Russia is open to cooperation on equal terms. The same Americans, according to him, demonstrated their interest in the Russian economy even before the sanctions — probably many of them are ready to return. In the meantime, business opportunities in Russia are hampered by the high key interest rate. Investing will be activated when it is around 12% or lower. About how sanctions have affected Russia and what hidden unemployment is related to — in an exclusive interview with Sergey Katyrin.

"The most expensive capital is people"

— Earlier it was reported that businesses and trade unions are recording an increase in hidden unemployment — the number of idle, part-time and expected to be fired employees is increasing at enterprises. What is the reason for this trend?

— These are the economic difficulties that our large enterprises are experiencing. In particular, those that work at the final stage — assembly. For example, mechanical engineering. Due to the high key rate (18% per annum), certain difficulties arose earlier. Today, they are beginning to show up — enterprises involved in the assembly of airplanes, cars and tractors depend on thousands of suppliers, and all of them are having problems. In addition, there are currently no consumers with sufficient funds to purchase products, which leads to a decrease in demand in both the private and public sectors. In this situation, enterprises strive to preserve their workforce. The most expensive capital is people.

Therefore, it is natural that companies want to retain key employees who have the necessary knowledge and competencies. Various schemes are being developed for this purpose, such as shorter working weeks and additional payments. However, as the key interest rate decreases, economic difficulties will gradually be resolved. The main thing is to ensure the sale of products. All suppliers are ready to set up production, but for this they need to retain their teams. Once this is achieved, supply chains will be fully operational.

— In which industries are part-time and shorter workweeks most common now?

— There are very big problems in the coal industry right now. But this is due not only to the internal situation, but also to prices on global commodity markets. There are serious difficulties there, as the cost of these goods has decreased significantly. This has hit the coal industry and other sectors hard. Although oil prices are not the lowest, they also do not reach records.

This has had a negative impact on several industries, especially those that work in direct contact with consumers, such as the food industry. They have the opportunity to adapt, as we consume food and visit stores on a daily basis. However, companies with long production cycles and high financial capacity face great difficulties.

"The lower the rate, the more investments companies will have"

— At the SPIEF, you told us that now is not the best time for companies to launch an IPO. Then you noted that more favorable conditions could have developed with lower rates and an improvement in the foreign policy situation. Now the rate is 18%, and foreign policy is beginning to normalize. Have you changed your mind?

— I haven't changed my mind. The lower the key rate, the more opportunities our Russian business has to buy back any assets that the government wants to sell. It is necessary that the company has more economic opportunities. The more of them she has, the more expensive she can present herself on the IPO market and place her shares.

— What kind of bid is needed?

— Investing starts more or less actively at around 12% per annum. The lower the rate, the more investments companies will have.

— The federal budget for the next three years will be adopted soon. Do you plan to make proposals?

— Every time a draft budget is sent, we form suggestions in our 35 committees. At the final stage, we discuss this, choose what we really want to bring to life. In general, we have a constant dialogue in this regard with the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, and the State Duma, where all this is then accepted.

— What are your suggestions?

— They concern almost all industries, just to a lesser extent, to a greater extent. If we talk, for example, about supporting small businesses, then we support the trend towards quality. That is, to provide more targeted assistance to companies that show the greatest dynamics, invest in innovative products and solutions, and digitalization.

"All sanctions against Russia have not produced any serious results"

— Negotiations between Russia and the United States began in mid-August. So far, Donald Trump has decided not to impose new sanctions against our country. In your opinion, can the old measures be softened in the near future by establishing dialogue?

— All the sanctions against Russia have not produced any serious results. I mean, the Western side, those who impose these sanctions, have had a greater negative effect on them. We also had some difficulties, but at the same time, they forced us to think faster and find new ways out — how to solve issues of mutual settlements, logistics and foreign trade.

Today, we are conducting mutual settlements with foreign partners, and we have learned how to deliver and receive goods. Russia will not cease its foreign economic activity due to the presence or absence of sanctions.

The relationship will soften. Americans have an interest in investing in the Russian economy. They demonstrated this before all these sanctions, they worked in the Russian market. I think many of them are ready and would be happy to return to the oil and gas sector, IT, and finance. But it will depend on them.

We have always said and are saying that we are open and ready to work with anyone who is willing to work on equal terms with us. Therefore, it would certainly be nice if a softening in these relations could begin. The more loyal the political relations are, the more extensive the economic relationships will be.

"Countries are interested in making simple and convenient calculations for Russian tourists"

— Last year in April, you noted that the Bank of Nepal is open to consultations on cooperation issues, including the connection of Mir cards to its payment system. Which other countries have expressed interest in the discussion? How many are there?

— This morning we had the Russia–ASEAN session. Most of the 10 ASEAN countries are ready to accept Mir cards (Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. — Ed.). They are ready to cooperate on this issue and they are interested in increasing the tourist flow.

I think that by the end of this year, more than 2 million of our tourists will visit Thailand — we are leaving the largest amounts there. The receipt is approximately about $2 thousand (about 160 thousand rubles). If this amount is multiplied by 2 million, then it turns out that we are improving the Thai economy.

Countries are interested in making simple and convenient calculations for Russian tourists. The Mir map is the most acceptable option for us. It's not just about some business deals and industrial projects, but about tourism.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the tourist flow from all over the world to Thailand was about 40 million people. Now they want to reach 80 million altogether. In addition, our country accounts for about half of the tourist flow to ASEAN.

The more convenient all the procedures related to tourism are — mutual settlements and flights, the more travelers there are. But this is also due to the fact that there must be transportation opportunities and infrastructure.