Until the end of the year, the situation in the capital economy will remain stable

This issue, as well as tariff regulation, the capital's budget for 2022 and the application of the borrowing mechanism, were discussed by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations Vladimir Yefimov with Interfax correspondent Daria Barakina.

- The pandemic has already led to an increase in the need for workers in a number of industries. We are talking, for example, in the field of IT, medicine and delivery of goods.

The demand for new personnel in IT is associated with the accelerated digitalization of all spheres of life, which received a powerful stimulus last year and continues today.

More and more doctors are required in the healthcare sector for obvious reasons: the burden on hospitals and clinics has increased.

Finally, the development of services for the delivery of goods is associated with the rapid transition of consumers to the online segment. Due to this, earnings of non-food trade enterprises in Moscow are growing, while the attendance of shopping centres has not recovered - and, apparently, will not recover - to pre-crisis levels. Today it is 20% below the 2019 values.

- This requirement did not significantly affect the labour market, except for the alertness of some employees at the beginning of the vaccination campaign.

We see that the vast majority of people working in the "contact" areas agreed with the need for vaccinations, realizing that such a step is necessary today to protect both their own health and the well-being of their loved ones.

- Did not change. For all macro indicators, we either returned to the level of the pre-crisis 2019, or surpassed it.

For example, unemployment in Moscow has practically dropped to two years ago. Today it is 0.5% - from the economic point of view, this is the so-called natural level of unemployment, that is, the lowest possible.

The volume of investments increased by 20% compared to 2020. We can also see an increase of more than 20% in industry. For eight months of this year, industrial production has increased by 25.1%, while a year ago this figure was just over 16%.

The construction industry is doing well: in three quarters of 2021, more than 10 million square meters of real estate were commissioned in Moscow and the annual plan was fulfilled ahead of schedule. The physical volume of construction increased by 20%.

It is important that the Moscow government does not reduce the development program - we are fully fulfilling the investment obligations assumed by the city, this also applies to the development of the city's transport system and the construction of social facilities.

The recovery of the city's economy affects budget revenues: taxes on profits and incomes of individuals are growing.

- I think that the situation in the economy will remain stable until the end of the year.

So far, the city has managed to avoid significant restrictions in the economic sphere due to the fact that the capital's healthcare system has adapted to work in a pandemic: a reserve fund of beds for patients with coronavirus has been formed in Moscow, and an active vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is underway.

Now a requirement has been introduced to transfer at least 30% of employees to remote work, and a home regime has been announced for Moscow residents who are at high risk - the elderly and suffering from chronic diseases. At the same time, we see that the enterprises of the capital have adapted to a partially remote mode, and many companies have already switched to a hybrid format.

- The first mechanism is long-term tariffs and regulatory agreements. Long-term tariffs make it possible to make the work of regulated organizations predictable, implement investment programs - and, therefore, develop urban infrastructure.

Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to sign such documents in all industries, but we hope that sooner or later the Federal Antimonopoly Service will expand this area.

The second mechanism is digitalization. It allows you to accept tariffs faster, easier and more transparently.

- The first PPP project in the housing and communal services has already been launched in Moscow - the construction of drying of silt deposits. Investments are expected to amount to about 27 million rubles.

In other words, the use of this mechanism will allow us to attract investments that are comparable to the half-year revenue of the entire city water supply and sanitation system. We would not have been able to do this without attracting a private investor.

Today we are considering the possibility of implementing another project in this area. We are talking about the extraction of grey water of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater for processing them into fertilizers. The investor came up with an initiative, in the near future we will decide on a concession.