The Russian government is preparing new measures to support domestic automobile producers.
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Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko voiced concerns that investors in Russia’s auto industry should be supported at a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, ITAR-TASS reported.
Domestic and foreign investors have invested about US$6bn in the Russian automobile industry, Khristenko said.
“It is important now to minimise the risks for these investors,” Khristenko said.
He did not elaborate on the measures under consideration.
The government will possibly subsidise interest rates on loans that car producers pay to banks, Russia’s President Dimitry Medvedev has said.
State assistance for Russian carmakers was written into a USD200bn state aid package, including a provision to lower interest rates on loans taken by car manufacturers.
Early this month, the government also sharply raised import tariffs on second-hand foreign cars, a protectionist measure for which the industry has long lobbied.
Although activity has weakened lately, Russia’s automobile output increased 14.5% on the year to 1,558,687 units in January-October, ASM Holding, which monitors Russia’s automotive sector, said Monday.
Car output increased 19.6% on the year to 1,265,321 units in January-October, while truck output rose 5% to 238,588 units in the period. Of those figures, foreign-branded car output was up 41.1% to 516,281 units and foreign-branded truck production rose 22.6% to 16,049 units.
In 2007, Russia’s vehicle output rose 10.4% on the year to 1.660 million units, including 1.289 million cars and 287,914 trucks, the holding said earlier.
