Help coming soon: what support measures are small businesses prioritizing this fall
Government support measures for the SME sector have become more relevant against the background of the fact that it is difficult for businesses to renegotiate the terms of their loans, Izvestia found out. In the third quarter, demand for loan restructuring decreased by 20%. Experts attribute this not only to lower interest rates, but also to stricter requirements for banks to carry out these procedures. In this case, support programs — preferential loans for SMEs, umbrella guarantees, and credit vacations — are becoming increasingly important. What else small and medium—sized businesses can expect is in the Izvestia article.
Assistance to small businesses
In the context of the import substitution policy, the issue of supporting small and medium-sized businesses has become particularly important. Small companies today face a number of challenges: High interest rates, limited access to long money, and rising costs for logistics, utilities, and rent, according to Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the same time, SMEs occupy a significant share in the economy — they account for more than 20% of GDP and about 40% of all jobs, noted financial advisor and founder Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin.
One of the measures to support SMEs in Russia is the investment lending program in priority sectors. Now it is extended only to a few areas — manufacturing, tourism, scientific and technical activities, as well as IT, Alexander Isaevich, CEO of SME Corporation, recalled. Companies can get a loan at a rate 3.5 percentage points lower than the key one. There is also a special preferential loan program for innovative and small technology companies (MTK).
In addition, they continue to issue "umbrella" guarantees until 2030. If an SME does not have enough property to pledge during lending, the state can assume part of the risk and actually act as a guarantor. This measure applies to all industries except excisable and mining. The amount of the guarantee can reach 1 billion rubles, explained Alexander Isaevich. Thanks to the umbrella mechanism, small and medium-sized enterprises have already been able to attract more than 1.1 trillion rubles of financing.
Also, starting from October 1, credit holidays for SMEs and the self—employed have been launched in Russia. This is a delay of up to six months, which is provided for loans taken out to cover expenses and aimed at business development, as well as investment loans. The maximum amount of borrowed funds, for which it is planned to provide a grace period, will amount to 60 million rubles for microenterprises, 400 million for small companies, 1 billion for medium—sized companies, and 10 million for the self—employed.
Such regulations allow for the temporary suspension of loan payments, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to stabilize their business and return to normal financial activities, said the CEO of SME Corporation. This is one of the effective support measures that helps to reduce the volume of delays.
It is now important that the current preferential SME lending programs remain in place in 2026, Sergey Katyrin stressed. Additionally, it is worth expanding warranty tools and cost compensation programs for entrepreneurs working in high-risk industries. These measures will help smooth out the impact of the high key interest rate and reduce the risks of non-payments.
How to work in a high-stakes environment
SMEs can also receive financing on market terms, but the rates in the largest banks start at 18% per annum. With a record key rate of 21%, this figure reached 30%, but even now the workload remains high.
Problems in obtaining a loan may arise if the company has not revised its approach to its work in the market due to the changing economic situation in the country and the world. Either the delay in issuing loans is related to technical procedures, for example, the lengthy identification of the beneficiary through government services, said Alexey Begaev, a member of the board of the Moscow Business Russia and founder of the Insek group of companies.
At the same time, it is very important for companies to be able to restructure their debt if they find themselves in a difficult situation. In this case, the borrower may request a change in the loan terms from the bank, for example, an extension of the loan term with a reduction in the monthly payment, a postponement of some payments to a later date, or a reduction in the interest rate.
However, recently such a measure has become less in demand among companies — SMEs are less likely to apply for loan restructuring. From July to September 2025, almost 60,000 SME sector players applied for loan easing, which is 20% less than in the previous reporting period, according to data from the Bank of Russia (Izvestia analyzed them). And this is a record decline since at least the beginning of 2023.
According to the most recent data from the regulator, by September 1, 2025, the total debt of small companies amounted to 525.4 billion rubles. The press service of the Bank of Russia told Izvestia that the reduction in the number of applications for SME loan restructuring was mainly due to lower interest rates and market participants' expectations of subsequent monetary policy easing.
From October 2024 to June 2025, the regulator kept the rate at a record high of 21%. After that, the Central Bank began to gradually decrease — at the last meeting on October 24, it set it at 16.5%. At the same time, the majority of corporate borrowers among small businesses now have a loan at a floating rate — with a decrease in the key percentage, Sergei Borisov, chairman of the Opora Russia Committee on financial markets, drew attention.
The decrease in interest in classical restructuring is also explained by the fact that SMEs have a more flexible set of financial instruments and solutions adapted to new conditions, said Daniil Gonenko, Associate Professor of Economics and Finance of the Public Sector at the Presidential Academy.
Moreover, companies apply for restructuring when they cannot get refinancing — a new loan with a lower interest rate to cover the old debt, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global. Now, against the background of a decrease in the key rate, businesses have such an opportunity, so they are less in need of changes in debt conditions.
The demands of banks on restructuring applications have become tougher, and the benefits for companies that have already undergone the heaviest payments are small, says Igor Morozov, founder and CEO of Rutmark. Borrowers have to collect a large package of documents and undergo detailed verification in order for the bank to assess the risks.
As a result, many firms prefer either to make payments on schedule or to look for alternative ways of support, as restructuring increasingly does not provide a tangible "relief," he added. According to Sergey Katyrin from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, now businesses are increasingly trying to look for internal reserves — to reduce costs, unite, and switch to simpler tax regimes.
There are still companies on the market that have mostly short-term loans, and restructuring is not of interest to them, said Alexey Begaev, a member of the board of the Moscow Business Russia and founder of the Insek group of companies. There are also enterprises that realize that the deterioration of the economic situation cannot be compensated by obtaining a new loan. In general, the situation shows that companies choose different approaches to debt management depending on their financial conditions.
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