On the need to revise measures of state support for small and medium–sized businesses

The proposed study is devoted to the study of the problems of the development of state support for small business in the light of the National Project «Small and medium5sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative» being implemented in the Russian Federation. The methods of induction and deduction, system analysis, and comparison were used as a methodological basis. The subject of the study is the subsystems of the mechanism of state support for small and medium–sized businesses, which most effectively influence the activation of such a significant sector of the economy in the period 2018–2024. The coronavirus pandemic has revolutionized the transformation of small companies, accelerated digitalization, changed business models, organizational structure and thinking of owners, and influenced the number and demographic characteristics of employees. The timely response of the Government and the measures of large–scale state support introduced have significantly offset the possible devastating consequences for the entire segment of small and medium–sized enterprises. The Government’s operational efforts have not been in vain and small businesses have mostly stayed afloat. As a result of the study, conclusions were drawn: there was no further timely «reversal» caused by the special operation; the existing «availability» of financing does not allow achieving the target indicators laid down in the National Project (32.5% of GDP in 2024).Consequently, there is a need to revise government support measures and the need for adjustments to the system and tools aimed at the qualitative transformation of SMEs.