Half of businessmen in Russia said about the growth of corruption against the backdrop of sanctions

More than 50% of entrepreneurs in Russia believe that the sanctions have affected the level of corruption in the country, including 30% noticed a strong increase, data from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed.At the same time, the personal experience of businessmen encountering bribes has decreased

This year, 58% of entrepreneurs who took part in the annual survey "Business Barometer of Corruption" of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) faced corruption. Last year, this figure was significantly higher - 69%. The results of the study, which has been conducted since 2016, were presented during the All-Russian interactive action dedicated to the International Anti-Corruption Day (celebrated on December 9). The broadcast was monitored by RBC.

This year, entrepreneurs, as well as government officials, were asked how the level of corruption in Russia was affected by the sanctions of unfriendly countries. As a result, 29.8% of business representatives indicated its significant growth and another 21.5% noted a slight impact (this question implied the perception of corruption around, regardless of whether the respondent directly encountered it).

Among civil servants, more than half of the respondents (51.4%) did not notice a worsening of the situation with corruption in the face of sanctions pressure, and 16.4% reported a strong increase in the level of corruption.

The survey is conducted anonymously among 42,583 participants; most of them are business representatives (company owners, individual entrepreneurs, self-employed, employees of companies, representatives of several forms of business) from different industries and about 9% are state and municipal employees. Representatives of the authorities have been voting since last year.

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How has the level of corruption changed?

Questions within the CCI survey may differ from year to year, while some remain the same. This is the general level of corruption, the scope and reasons for its spread, and the impact on business.

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Compared to last year, the number of those who directly encountered corruption decreased by 11.1 percentage points, from 69.3 to 58.2%. As part of this category, almost 5 p.p. the number of those who face it constantly decreased (from 20.1 to 15.6%), the rest answered that this rarely happens to them. According to the results of last year, Rosstat gave its own assessment of the level of corruption: according to its data, 49.1% of enterprises faced bribery.

In 2016, when the survey was conducted for the first time, the level of corruption according to business experience was noticeably higher: then 61.6% of entrepreneurs rarely encountered it, and 17.6% - constantly.

The list of the main causes of corruption has not changed over the year. In the first place - the greed of officials and officials. This year, this option was noted by 39.5% of respondents (against 35.8% last year). In second place among the reasons is the impunity of government officials (it was chosen by 34.4% of the respondents). In 2020, this answer was the most popular.

The fact that corruption negatively affects the development of a particular business and creates unequal conditions was stated by 46.4% of entrepreneurs. At the same time, 11.8% of respondents are convinced that it helps to resolve issues faster. This opinion was shared by approximately the same number of respondents last year (12%).

Which industries are the most corrupt?

The most corrupt area of ​​business this year was the removal of municipal solid waste - it was noted by 47.3% of respondents (last year this option did not appear in the presentation of the results of the study). The top three most corrupt areas include control over business activities, interaction with inspection bodies and obtaining permits, certificates, licensing, accreditation; they were chosen by almost 38% of the respondents.

Meanwhile, the number of those who consider the most corrupt sphere of public procurement according to 223-FZ (regulates the procurement of state corporations) has more than doubled. Last year, this option was chosen by 12.7%, and this year - 31.7%. At the same time, the assessment of corruption in the procurement of state institutions (according to 44-FZ) decreased by 2 percentage points over the year, from 19.8 to 18%.

Last year, HSE experts estimated at 6.6 trillion rubles. the volume of the corruption market in public procurement, RBC wrote. According to their calculations, on average, a bribe costs a company applying for a government contract 22.5% of its amount.

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How did the sanctions affect

Last year, when there were no tough sanctions yet, businessmen and officials were routinely asked to assess how the level of corruption had changed over the past year. At that time, the authorities were more pessimistic than entrepreneurs: 22.4% of civil servants and 17.6% of businessmen stated that the level of corruption had increased.

Sanctions give rise to uncertainty that business feels more painful than government, explains Igor Nikolaev, chief researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “In a situation of uncertainty, the psychology of a temporary worker can prevail, when giving a bribe to make money seems like a suitable solution,” he notes.

On the other hand, the sanctions crisis contributes to the development of factors that reduce corruption. “For example, the moratorium on checks introduced by the authorities eliminates some of the abuses, because it is checks that often become a reason to give a bribe,” the expert believes.

This year, corruption has caused damage to the economy in the amount of 24.6 billion rubles, said the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin. According to him, in the first ten months, 8,796 criminal cases on crimes related to corruption were sent to the courts, which is 10% more than last year.