Russia is about to grant Belarus a $3 billion loan.  Reuters has a factbox on the biggest state-owned Russian companies.  A World Bank report on the Russian economy, released earlier this week, suggests that salaries and incomes are on the rise, and analysts quoted by the Moscow Times suggest that these rises will continue throughout the year, despite low productivity.  The current higher rate of social tax is thought to be stifling small businesses.  Here’s a report on the ‘opaque holdings‘ of PhosAgro.  Manufacturing rates are now the highest they’ve been since 2006.  An electronic system for registering short-term residency online will lead to abuses, as it will force migrants to go to third parties, lawyers say.