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The German economy in Russia has called on the Moscow government to step up working life after a forced vacation of about a month. “The state must allow for greater personal responsibility. Companies can protect their employees with appropriate hygiene measures, ultimately better than the state,” said the head of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (AHK), Moscow Schepp , in Moscow. President Vladimir Putin had ordered a month off from work until the end of April due to the crown pandemic. He wants to comment this week on whether the blockade will be extended.
The approximately 4,200 German companies in Russia have already suffered losses of hundreds of millions of euros, Schepp said. For example, Volkswagen’s large Kaluga plant, a German showcase project in Russia, has been idle since March 30. “In Moscow, for example, we are also fighting so that Obi can reopen his DIY stores so that people can buy seeds, peat and fertilizers. Now is the time to plant. In Russia, where many fruits and vegetables are grown in the dacha, it’s so vital, “Schepp said.
The AHK chief sees the danger that the Russian leadership does not care enough about small and medium-sized enterprises and, above all, supports large corporations with good contacts with the power apparatus in the crisis. “It would be a bad result if there had been more and even less private sector in Russia at the end of the crisis.” Russia is in high monetary reserves and can provide such assistance. So far, according to an AHK survey, most companies consider support measures to be inadequate.
According to Russian economy minister Maxim Reshetnikov, the blockade costs the country the equivalent of around 1.2 billion euros per day. Also, because oil and gas prices are in the basement and energy consumption has decreased, the main power, which depends on the sale of raw materials, has billions of holes in the home. Russia’s state budget is priced at $ 42 per barrel of oil. On Monday afternoon, the price of American light oil fell below the $ 12 mark. The price of the European Brent variety fell below the $ 20 mark.