Today in Russian Business – Oct 16, 2008

The falling price of oil contributed to further huge losses on the MICEX yesterday. Mid-size Bank Globex is under scrutiny for seeking to protect itself from severe losses by taking measures that, some argued, are against the law. Amid falling prices and an unusually big harvest, the agricultural sector needs more than $34 billion in order to survive the crisis. News of the crisis is still failing to hit Russia’s mainstream media, says this report. Aviation authorities have grounded a group of Russian airlines due to their debts. The financial crisis doesn’t seem to be having an effect on the art world. ‘Good art correctly priced will always make good prices,’ says the head of Sotheby’s in Russia. An Austrian property commissioner has reportedly blocked the sale of a luxury chalet to billionaire Yelena Baturina, on the grounds that the sale was not in the public interest.