Customers inspect cookers at an electronics store in Stavropol, southern Russia December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko (RUSSIA – Tags: BUSINESS)

March 12 (Reuters) – Russia’s trade and finance ministries will widen the criteria for systematically important companies to include firms in the electronics sector, the TASS news agency quoted the deputy prime minister as saying on Saturday. Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The Russian government on Friday offered a series of support measures, including some for suppliers to state-owned companies and the IT sector, as it seeks to weather the impact of Western sanctions on its economy. Read more

“The most important task for us is to develop our products and accelerate the substitution of imports with what was imported from outside,” Chernyshenko said.

He said the support of companies in the electronic sector was needed from the banking system.

“In all sectors of the economy there are now preferential loans and subsidized rates, and the possibility of preferential loans through regional budgets is also being considered,” Chernyshenko said.

Reuters reporting; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Andrew Heavens

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