Today in Russian Business – Jan 21, 2010

A conservative US think tank has ranked Russia’s economy a hair’s breadth above ‘repressed‘. Igor Shuvalov says the government is considering tax breaks for private enterprises in the education and healthcare sectors, and is worried about the current security of private property rights, correlating it with technology modernization and long-term investment.  Boris Kagarlitsky on modernization: ‘Russia should not repeat what has already been accomplished elsewhere but should produce whatever is in global demand.‘  Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has announced that it would investigate Oracle’s planned takeover of Sun Microsystems, sparking rumors of a possible delay to the deal.  The Central Bank has boosted its gold reserves again, which now stand at around $22 billion.  The full subscription for RusAl’s IPO is now priced at the upper end of its range.  Sberbank’s chief worries that excess liquidity could overheat the economy this year.  Why on earth is the Kremlin planning on opening a chain of fish and chip kiosks?