Doing Business in Russia. Котова К.П - 28 стр.

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      “But I believe them”, says Iosif Rotgolts, “They will rev us and pay their
debts to us and bring a profit, in hard currency.”
      A bureaucrat, the foe of bureaucrats
      The EC managers are confident of their business abilities and no longer
fear going down the drain. They have already concluded 54 agreements on co-
operation with enterprises, while 12 cooperatives use their consulting services
regularly.
      The only thing these 15 EC managers (district-level bureaucrats) fear is
bureaucrats. As Iosif Rotgolts has admitted, during their four months of business
last year the EC managers could have given much more than 25,000 roubles.
But they always take the potential auditor into consideration and so they have
had to give up many profitable transactions.
      “I have no doubts that even in our own EC there are some who call us
“profiteers”, says the EC managers’ chief. “One day they may close us down
saying that we are too independent or having decided that our activities “don’t
do credit” to the district authorities. They may squeeze us with so many rules
that it’s impossible to make money.”
      Having invested 60,000 roubles in rebuilding a shop originally intended to
turn out goods in short supply in the West, the EC managers could ensure them-
selves a stable income.
      When it set up these organizations as an experiment, the Moscow City
envisaged getting loans. But the banks have their own ideas about such institu-
tions. They refused to loan money to the EC managers.
      The collective’s dream is to have the country’s lowest wage – 70 roubles.
The main income must be in commissions from deals. But even this is forbidden
by existing instructions.
      This year the Lyublino District will have a four-million-rouble “gap” in
its budget. Due to bureaucratic barriers, the EC managers won’t be able to close
the gap out of its own revenues. But its people hope that as time passes those