“Risks of a pandemic — the victim cries” — Ruslan Mukhametshin comment for Legal Information Agency

Anti-crisis privileges are often granted to some citizens and companies at the expense of others. Many market players have the right to irresponsibly fail to fulfill their obligations, homeowners do not pay for utilities in a timely manner, and airlines do not refund the cost of tickets. This chain can lead to a new crisis of non-payments.

As measures to support business, a moratorium on recognizing companies as bankrupt was introduced, private employers were required to pay their own salaries for non- working days declared by the head of state, and energy companies were required to compensate for arrears in housing and utility payments. Compensation for such losses is not provided.

Ruslan Mukhametshin, head of the consulting and evaluation department of "Prime Advice":

When entering the quarantine, business participants were in an unequal position both in terms of sources of funding, the availability of a cushion, and belonging to a particular industry. Prudent owners always had some margin of safety – they were reasonable about credit policy, maintained a reserve of liquidity for a rainy day and did not inflate the staff. At the same time, there were also reverse situations – when the business operates inefficiently and is overloaded with borrowed funds.

You can only initiate bankruptcy if you have a valid court decision, which takes from two to six months to get. And this is usually preceded by a claim work lasting a couple of months. In other words, the company that uses the moratorium should have had problems for a long time. The imposed moratorium on bankruptcy gives a reprieve to already inefficient businesses, which even before the pandemic did not feel well, depriving creditors of the opportunity to protect their interests. The measure is more populist than effectively working.

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