The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2023 increased by almost 6% compared to 2022: as of December 10, 6.31 million companies were registered in Russia, compared to 5.97 on the same date in 2022. Information in this regard is contained in the Unified Register of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of the Federal Tax Service.
The number of employees of these companies decreased by 0.7% during the year: from 15.2 million people in 2022 to 15.1 million people in 2023.
The Central Federal District (FD) accounts for 32% of small and medium-sized businesses, 17% are registered in the Volga Federal District, 11% in each of the North-Western and Southern Federal Districts, 10% in the Siberian Federal District, 8% belong to the Ural Federal District, 5% to the Far Eastern Federal District, 4% to the North Caucasus Federal District (3% in 2022), 2% to the constituent entities from the south-west of the Russian Federation.
The growth in the number of medium and small companies is largely due to the departure of many foreign companies and brands, says Anastasia Chumak, co-head of the investor rights protection practice at Intercession.
“One of the non-obvious reasons for growth is the fragmentation of large companies into smaller ones. This was done to mitigate the risk of sanctions,” says the expert.
Chumak also believes that the reduction in the number of employees in SMEs, despite the general increase in the number of companies, may be due to the fact that small businesses began to actively use the services of freelancers.
The register of the Federal Tax Service contains data on individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. The self-employed are not included in this registry.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
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