(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – March 12, 2014) Overworked and understaffed, Russia’s fledgling Intellectual Property Rights Court is watching nervously as its case load continues to climb. “Compared to analogous courts in Europe, we have a very high case load … and an increase in workload leads to the risk of a decline in the quality of […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Chris Weafer, Macro-Advisory – March 11, 2014) “Sanctions and boycotts would be tied to serious political dialogue” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi We have cut our growth forecast to 1% for 2014, and revised some other macro forecasts partly because of the uncertainty and disruption caused by the Ukraine crisis but also reflecting the […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – February 27, 2014) The head of the powerful Investigative Committee said Thursday that preventing corruption during a planned privatization of state assets will be a top priority for his agency this year. The government recently announced plans for an ambitious three-year program running up to 2016 to privatize a wide array of state property, from energy to […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – February 27, 2014) [Charts here http://www.bne.eu/storyf5775/Emerging_middle_class_delays_major _purchases_lots_of_catchup_left] Winds of uncertainty are blowing again and many in emerging markets have put off big-ticket purchases as a result. However, a survey from Credit Suisse released in February found some of these markets have progressed and diverged to such an extent that […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 24, 2014) More than 60 percent of Russian companies say that they have been victims of economic crimes like bribery, a report said. Worldwide, the incidence of fraud is much lower, with 37 percent of companies having come into contact with it, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers released late last week. The most common […]
» Read more
[“Fast food conquers Russia, brings obesity” – ITAR-TASS – Lyudmila Alexandrova – February 18, 2014 – http://en.itar-tass.com/opinions/1676] ITAR-TASS tries to blame McDonald’s for Russian obesity: Russia’s first McDonald’s fast food restaurant opened on downtown Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square in late January 1990, causing unprecedented buzz among Muscovites who formed a multi-kilometer line to taste American fast food. International fast food came […]
» Read more
GORKI. Feb 17 (Interfax) – Large-scale privatization deals could begin in the second quarter of 2014, the head of the Russian Federal Property Agency (Rosimushchestvo) Olga Dergunova told journalists on Monday. “Agents will be best prepared for deals such as that of Sovcomflot in the second quarter. We will answer questions concerning the deal’s structure and [share] placement location. The […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) – The Federal Migration Service and the Economic Development Ministry have drawn up a law, which facilitates naturalization of foreign citizens, Kommersant wrote on Wednesday. The simpler naturalization procedure will be primarily granted to businessmen who invest at least ten million rubles in Russia and foreign alumni of Russian colleges and universities who work in Russia […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Yezhova – February 12, 2014) A slew of announced layoffs is rattling the domestic labor market, threatening to further undermine a weak economy. Russia’s two largest banks, state-owned Sberbank and VTB, have joined the country’s biggest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, in declaring significant staff reductions in the upcoming months. VTB Group disclosed last month that it […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – February 10, 2014) Renault Russia sales chief Sergei Kuteishchikov had to shave his head last month, having lost what seemed a sure bet. He gambled that in 2013’s declining market, his dealers would beat the previous year’s sales results, but not by much. A recent message he sent to the dealers included […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s major satellite provider stopped broadcasting Dozhd independent television channel Monday after the network became embroiled into a controversy over an opinion poll about World War II. Tricolor TV, Russia’s biggest satellite TV provider, said a week ago that its board of directors had unanimously decided to exclude the liberal Dozhd channel from all […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Natalia Orlova, special to RBTH – February 5, 2014) While developed economies face the need to deleverage, emerging markets still have the opportunity to grow by taking on more debt. Natalia Orlova is the Chief Economist at Alfa Bank in Moscow. While developed economies face the need to deleverage, emerging markets still have […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered analyzing the possibility of relocating the main offices of a number of major companies partly or wholly owned by the state and a number of federal government bodies to the Far East, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev told […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – January 31, 2014) Entrepreneurship has become an object of intense focus in Russia since the crisis of 2008-2009, as debates continue over the pace and the progress of economic diversification. The expansion of business accelerators and technoparks across the country has indicated the interest in fostering small and medium-sized enterprises. Events such […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – January 30, 2014) Anatoly Chubais, known in the West as the driver of post-Soviet privatization, is counting on his reputation and corporate savvy to attract external investors to Rusnano – the state-owned technology company he has run since its inception in 2007. Chubais outlined the company’s restructuring plans that involve a separation […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 29, 2014) Improvements in the stock market mean that the privatization of several large state corporations can be accelerated, and the sale of 19 percent of the country’s largest oil firm Rosneft can be fast-tracked to this year, Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev said. Stakes in Rosneft, Aeroflot, shipyard Sovcomflot, Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, […]
» Read more
GORKY, January 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that government officials should be appointed to the boards of state-owned companies, in an apparent reversal of a signature reform he carried out during his presidency. “Civil servants should be [on the boards of directors of state-owned companies] in a sensible quantity and in sensible positions,” Medvedev […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 24, 2014) The number of newly established Russian companies grew last year while the number of companies ceasing operations decreased, data has shown. According to statistics on the Federal Tax Service website, 411,900 new commercial enterprises were included on the state registry in 2013 an increase of 3.3 percent on 2012. At the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – January 24, 2014) Two international business forums covering Russia this month have appeared oblivious to former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s recent release from jail evidence that the drawing of a line under his politically tinged case hardly had an effect on the country’s investment climate. The Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – January 20, 2014) Russian delegates at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos could have to field uneasy questions about the country’s economic slowdown at a time when Western economies are regaining their confidence. Russia’s economic aid to Ukraine is also likely to surface during discussions at the Swiss alpine resort, in […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – January 17, 2014) Russia is making slow progress in improving economic freedom, according to the “2014 Index of Economic Freedom” report released January 15 by the conservative US think-tank, the Heritage Foundation. Since reassuming the presidency in 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin has launch long-delayed structural reforms to make Russia a more attractive place […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – Russia’s oil and gas condensate output grew 1.0% year-on-year to 523.276 million tonnes (10.508 million barrels a day) in 2013, the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex (CDU TEK) said. Russia produced 44.964 million tonnes of oil in December, with the average daily produce of 10.632 million barrels. In 2013 Rosneft (MOEX: […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has declined nearly half of a total of over 1 million requests from controlling agencies on inspecting small and medium-sized businesses in 2014, which makes nearly half of all such requests, the office reported on its website on Thursday. “In line with the law on state and municipal control, draft […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 6, 2014) Alisher Usmanov retained his title as Russia’s richest businessman in 2013 with a net worth of $20.2 billion, according to a Bloomberg ranking of the world’s 200 wealthiest persons. Usmanov, whose fortune grew by $1.3 billion last year, qualified as the world’s 36th richest person in the ranking, which also saw 10 […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman – January 2, 2014) As Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin argue over human rights in Russia and the fate of fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, the countries’ biggest oil companies are preparing to drill for giant discoveries together in the Arctic Ocean. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM:US) and OAO Rosneft (ROSN) are set to […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) – The Russian president’s commissioner for entrepreneurs’ rights has argued that President Vladimir Putin’s pardoning former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky last week is unlikely to exercise any serious effect on business in Russia. “Of course, for Russian business it is not a big but a positive piece of news. However, this won’t radically affect the overall […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 20, 2013) Nine of out ten employees of the world’s most successful companies say that their supervisors are encouraging staff to focus on work effectiveness, while less than half of Russian companies’ top managers do so, a survey released Friday showed. The “best companies for leadership” annual survey by the Hay Group management consulting […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – December 20, 2013) [Full text with charts here http://www.bne.eu/story5634/OUTLOOK_2014_Russias_growth_model_runs_out_of_steam] bne: this report is in three parts. See the end of the page for links to the rest. Overview * Economic overview 2013 was a annus horribilis for Russia. Indeed, it was probably the worst year the country has been […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – December 18, 2013) It was more than business that pulled banker Alexis Rodzianko to Russia in 1995. Eight decades earlier, his great-grandfather had chaired two sessions of the pre-Revolutionary Duma and conducted abdication negotiations with Tsar Nicholas II. Now Rodzianko had competing job offers between New York, London and Moscow. “The call […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) Several top Russian companies have announced plans to reduce their use of offshore holding structures after President Vladimir Putin repeated calls for “deoffshorization” last week, according to a Russian newspaper report Thursday. Aluminum producer Rusal, telecoms giant MTS, truck maker Kamaz, state-owned hydroelectric conglomerate RusHydro and iron ore miner Metalloinvest have all made commitments […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – December 18, 2013) Russian joke from the 1990s: Two Novy Russkis (New Russians) meet on the street. “Nice tie. How much did it cost?” the first asks the second. “Its Hermes. It cost a $100!” answers the second. “You’re crazy! I know where you can buy the same one […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) – Investigative procedures in the so-called “third Yukos case” started two weeks after the second sentence was handed down on former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. “Two weeks after Khodorkovsky and former top manager Platon Lebedev were sentenced, i.e. in the beginning of 2011, the police started to collect evidence for the third case,” a source familiar […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – December 18, 2013) Before Mayor Sergei Sobyanin came to power in 2010, Guram Bolkvadze, a businessman from Georgia, owned 24 kiosks at bus stops across Moscow. Then one day, he was given just a few hours to get his goods out of the shops before the bulldozers came in and leveled 18 […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – December 17, 2013) Below find the link to a new paper from academics Clifford G Gaddy and Barry W Ickes, the men that brought us the term “virtual economy” in the 1990s the defining idea of the Yeltsin-era. In this new paper the thesis is that Russia suffers from the oil curse, but the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – December 16, 2013) Russian presidential aide on economic issues Andrey Belousov has said that the efforts aimed at improving Russia’s business climate have so far not led to a breakthrough, the privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 16 December. “The euphoria we felt due to [Russia’s] advancement in the Doing Business ranking by almost 20 percentage points […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 13, 2013) Chief Executive Officers from Russian companies are generally upbeat about the current state of Russia’s economy, but a large proportion have only moderate expectations for its future development prospects, a study conducted by executive search firm Stanton Chase International found. Over 85 percent of the survey’s participants assessed 2013 as successful, but […]
» Read more
(Interfax – December 16, 2013) Major foreign business has been recently concerned mostly about the psychological and political aspects in Russia, not with the business climate itself, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Monday when speaking at the conference “100 Steps Towards Favorable Investment Climates. Achievements and New Challenges” organized by the Vedomosti newspaper. “I have recently […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – December 16, 2013) The era of the brash New Russian has ended. Neither heavy gold chains nor massive Rolex watches enthrall the Russian consumer as they did at the dawn of capitalism in the 1990s, although quality is preferred and people are willing to pay for it, according to a survey released […]
» Read more
(Interfax – December 16, 2013) Russia has not yet managed to achieve a radical breakthrough on the issue of improving its business climate, the Russian president’s aide on economic issues, Andrei Belousov believes. “The euphoria from the nearly 20 percent advancement in the Doing Business rating passed about three hours after we found out the results,” Belousov said on Monday […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) – Companies with Russian assets that are registered in foreign jurisdictions have to pay taxes according to Russian law, while at the same time will receiving no government support, state contracts, or VEB credits, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “As nothing [has been done about this] in this sphere [‘de-offshoring’ the economy] this year, I […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 13, 2013) Senior managers at state companies can review proposed key performance indicators, or KPIs, for the quality of their work, which have been published on the website of the Federal Property Management Agency, a news report said Thursday. President Vladimir Putin authorized the development of KPIs for senior managers of state companies during […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) – Initiatives to “de-offshore” the Russian economy, as voiced in President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Federal Assembly on Thursday, will make it possible to secure additional budget revenue totaling “tens of billions of rubles,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said. “I think it will be tens of billions of rubles,” Siluanov told journalists on Thursday. […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – The economic amnesty declared in Russia has been applied to almost 1,500 people already, Russian business commissioner Boris Titov said. “As of today, a total of 1,479 people have been amnestied,” Titov said during a conference in Moscow on Monday. The possibilities of the amnesty are not exhausted yet, Titov said. “We are not completing […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – December 6, 2013) Foreign entrepreneurs talk about the pros and cons of working in Moscow. In an effort to find more ways to attract foreign investors to Russia’s capital, Moscow authorities asked several current expat businessmen to give their assessment of the pros and cons of starting a business […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 9, 2013) The Economic Development Ministry plans to relax requirements for board approval of various business deals and transactions, Interfax reported Monday. The changes are a part of the ministry’s effort to create an international financial center in the Russian Federation, said an explanatory note that came with a bill amending the existing federal […]
» Read more
[Putin dissolves state news agency, tightens grip on Russia media – Reuters – Timothy Heritage – December 9 – http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/09/us-russia-media-idUSBRE9B80I120131209] Reuters covers Russia President Vladimir Putin’s decision to dissolve RIA Novosti and absorb its operations into new entity called Rossiya Segodnya, with a mission of promoting Russia abroad: President Vladimir Putin tightened his control over Russia’s media on Monday by […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russia jumped 14 places in Forbes’ list of the Best Countries for Business in 2013, to 91st place between the Philippines and Paraguay. Forbes noted significant improvement in trade freedom (78th place) and innovation (74th) in Russia. On the other hand, “Russia’s long-term challenges also include a shrinking workforce, rampant corruption, and underinvestment in infrastructure,” […]
» Read more
NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 4 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin criticized the slow pace at which planned improvements to business conditions in Russia are being implemented. “Unfortunately, one-third of the measures in the approved road map have not been implemented on time. A whole host of proposals from business are stuck undergoing inter-ministerial coordination. Occasionally, the ministries propose limiting themselves to purely […]
» Read more
NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 4 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin ruled out the idea of boosting the tax burden on ordinary citizens in order to resolve problems facing entrepreneurs. The president criticized a proposal to collect additional budget funds to create infrastructure for housing construction, for example, by introducing an excise tax on soda pop. “Don’t do that. This means that a […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – By Anna Arutunyan – December 4, 2013) The Louis Vuitton pavilion controversy highlighted lack of transparency in managing areas surrounding the Kremlin As workers dismantled a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase that went up suddenly on Red Square last week, just who authorized the project and who issued orders for it to be taken down remained […]
» Read more