Tag Archives: Business

There has been another raid on the bank of tycoon and Kremlin critic Alexander Lebedev, just days after he nominated anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny for the board of airline Aeroflot, in which he owns a stake.  Russia is, according to the Moscow Times, mulling a one-time windfall tax on those who made money in the [...]

Skolkovo director Viktor Vekselberg is in the UK, attempting to encourage British companies to participate in what has been deemed Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley.  In an interview with the BBC’s Today program, fielding questions about the rule of law, he admits that Russia is not a democracy, as of yet.  In an attempt to [...]

International ratings agency Standard & Poor has reportedly forecast that Russia’s gross domestic product growth is to slow to 3.5% in 2012, from 4.2% in 2011.  Despite upheavals in exports to long-standing Arab clients and rivalry with China, Russia managed to set an arms export record in 2011 at $13.2 billion.  According to Ria-Novosti, 2012 [...]

From the World Economic Forum in Davos, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov considers the most complicated issues facing Russia’s economy.  The FT’s Gideon Rachman suggests that Shuvalov failed to convince assembled investors that rule of law is correctly observed in Russia.  According to Ria-Novosti, the size of the average bribe in Russia more than [...]

Bloomberg reports on markets continuing to be spooked by the possibility of popular unrest in advance of the presidential elections.  Property developer PIK Group has high hopes for revenue this year after a buoyant fourth quarter.  Prime Minister Putin has pledged that Russia will spend $120 billion on restructuring the coal industry through 2030.  The [...]

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told the media that Russia’s GDP grew by 4.2% in 2011, the world’s third highest growth rate among leading economies.  Capital flight statistics released yesterday were worrying, but, in the short term, ‘Russia’s large capital flight is sustainable because it is more than made up for by an oil and [...]

Under instructions from President Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov will establish a working group to tackle money laundering aimed at hiding criminal income.  According to Central Bank preliminary data, Russia saw a total of $84.2 billion in net capital outflows in 2011.  It is not all bad news however: the FT reports that apparently [...]

Russia enjoyed a budget surplus in 2011 after two years in deficit as spending was lower than planned and oil prices surpassed estimates, Bloomberg reports.  According to the Federal State Statistics Service, consumer price inflation in Russia hit a historic post-Soviet low of 6.1% in 2011.  Meanwhile neighbor and trade partner Belarus’ overall base rate of [...]

Reuters considers income inequality and low standards of living in Russia, factors which have, it would seem, informed the considerable disenchantment with Putin’s regime.  The recent political disruption has prompted some investors, who recall Russia’s currency devaluations in 1992 and 1998, to sell off rubles and ruble-denominated assets, says the WSJ.  Lager giant Carlsberg is [...]

Reuters considers the first bond deal to come out of Russia in 2012.  Now that the state is facing reforms which could have an impact upon insurance and pension funds, the FT wonders if it will attract fund managers who have, up until now, had a hard time pitching to Russian investors.  Digital Sky technologies’ [...]