Today in Russian Business – April 1, 2009

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is the latest to counter optimistic government outlooks on the economy, predicting that it will shrink by 5.6% this year.  Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says China’s yuan could become a global reserve currency within 15 years, once Beijing has liberalized its foreign exchange regime, and Dmitry Medvedev has continued to promote his ‘super currency’ idea both in Moscow and Berlin.  ‘Russia has a policy of buying gold as a way of diversifying its foreign exchange reserves away from the US dollar’.  The Moscow Advertising Committee was not pleased by radio station Business FM’s recent advertising campaign mocking government officials and criticizing the government’s anti-crisis measures.  French engineering giant Alstom has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in the parent company of train maker Transmashholding for an undisclosed amount.  Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina has proposed a law that would expand the number of enterprises eligible for simplified taxation under the bracket of ‘small businesses’.  On the poverty in regional Russia in the wake of the financial crisis.