Economic News in Review
Crisis, Sectors, and Domestic Policy in Russia
November, 2009

 

Agriculture / Food

 

Booze Ban Blues

Objectively, the problem of alcoholism exists and something needs to be done about it. But, on the other hand, Medvedev understands that serious restrictions can damage manufacturers and sellers of alcohol.

 

Burger King To Open First Russian Outlet In 2009

Burger King, the world's second biggest hamburger chain, said on Friday it plans to open its first Russian restaurant in Moscow this year, lured by the potential of the country's 140 million population.

 

Auto

 

Years Of Neglect Leave Avtovaz In Spiral Of Decline

For decades, Avtovaz's Lada model dominated the Russian car market, recently one of the largest and fastest growing in Europe. But as a result of chronic mismanagement and Russia's economic crisis, Avtovazis now in a downward spiral from which it might not recover.

 

GM's About-Face On Opel Provokes Anger In Germany, Russia

General Motors said it had decided to keep its German Opel brand, and not sell it to a consortium consisting of the Canadian auto-parts supplier Magna, and Russia's Sberbank.

 

Shifting In Reverse

After seeing its hopes dashed, can Russia salvage any good news out of the collapse of the Opel deal?

 

Russian Carmakers Move To Restrict Uzbek Car Imports

An Uzbek car industry official says car exports to Russia are continuing normally despite Russian carmakers’ attempts to restrict them, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reports.

 

Business

 

Will “Modernization” Meet The Fate of “Perestroika”?

President Dmitry Medvedev has decided to make “modernization” his platform for re-election in 2012. Will Medvedev’s “modernization” succeed? Are there parallels with the way Gorbachev launched his “perestroika” in the mid-1980s?

 

Russia Seeks To Remove Superlatives From Ad Campaigns

Russia's federal antitrust body has suggested making it illegal for companies to use superlatives in advertising campaigns for products and services, a deputy director of the organization said.

 

Russia Should Avoid Sudden Removal Of Stimulus

Russia’s economy will enjoy a stronger commodity-driven rebound than first estimated and authorities should avoid a sudden removal of stimulus measures to ensure the domestic economy keeps pace, the OECD said.

 

Making Losses

Optimizing the number of employees will hardly make the Russian post more reliable, friendly or convenient.

 

Washington Post: Carbon-credit dispute threatens new climate deal

Russia wants surplus carried over, but environmentalists call it counterproductive and unearned.

 

Domestic Policy

 

Putin announces more aid as Russia exits crisis

Vladimir Putin pledged on Saturday to widen Russia's anti-crisis aid package with a car scrappage scheme and mortgage support to jolt the economy out of the worst recession in 15 years.

 

Russia expects $2.7 bln from privatization auctions in 2010

The Russian government expects to receive about 77 billion rubles ($2.7 billion) from the privatization of state enterprises in 2010, a government source said on Monday.

 

Russian Presidential Aide Comments On Future Of State Corporations

Russian presidential aide Arkadiy Dvorkovich has told journalists that the state corporations Vnesheconombank, Rostekhnologii and Rosnanotekhnologii will be transformed into joint-stock societies in 2010.

 

Russia's Medvedev Foresees Resistance To Modernization Proposals

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev has said that he is prepared for his ideas on modernizing political and economic life in Russia to run into resistance from certain groups.

 

Foreign

 

Russia Wants Quick WTO Entry As Separate Entity

Russia wants to join the World Trade Organization on its own but will synchronize its entry with Kazakhstan and Belarus, its partners in a customs union, a Russian official said on Wednesday.

 

Advisory Council On Foreign Investment To Be Held Three Times Per Year

Foreign companies are hoping that the new policy will help their business plans.

 

Gas and Oil

 

ROAR: Nord Stream Gets Green Light

The Finnish and the Swedish governments have approved the construction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline through their waters in the Baltic Sea.

 

Gazprom Sees 50% Drop In Profits

Profits at Russian energy giant Gazprom have halved because of the higher cost of buying gas.

 

Gazprom Has ‘Everything’ In Place To Avoid European Gas Cuts

OAO Gazprom, the world’s biggest natural-gas producer, expects to maintain contracted supplies to Europe this winter, avoiding a repeat of a dispute with Ukraine that disrupted shipments in January.

 

Final Details On South Stream Gas Pipeline

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor signed an energy agreement giving the green light to the construction of a section of the South Stream gas pipeline through Slovenia to northern Italy.

 

AFP: Permafrost thaw threatens Russia oil and gas complex: study

Thawing permafrost caused by global warming is costing Russian energy firms billions of dollars annually in damage control and shrinking Russia's territory, Greenpeace warned in a new study Friday.

 

Indicators

 

Russia's Rebound Will Be Surprisingly Strong

Most economists dramatically underestimated the impact of the financial crisis on Russia's economy. This year Russia's GDP will slump by some 7.5 percent, compared to an IMF growth forecast of 6.5 percent made just last October.

 

Russia Recovery 'Very Weak': World Bank

The World Bank on Tuesday revised down its growth forecast for Russia, predicting a steeper contraction in gross domestic product of 8.7 percent in 2009 and very weak recovery for the economy in 2010.

 

Infrastructure

 

First Ever Road Connecting Russia’s West to East To Be Ready In 2010 – Ivanov

Seventeen bridges and one supplementary bridge across the Oka River in Murom will be commissioned this year, Ivanov said.

 

Investment

 

Barclays And HSBC March On Moscow

BarCap boss putting 'considerable' money to work in Russia.

 

Russia Sees Better Investor Mood, No Horror Stories

Russian government officials have played down a spate of horror stories about foreign investment in Russia, insisting that legal and tax changes have boosted the country's appeal despite figures showing falls in investment.

 

SPOs And IPOs To Increase 10-fold

Interview: public offerings offer concrete signs of recovery.

 

Bloomberg: Russia’s Foreign Direct Investment Falls 48.1% in 9 Months

Russia’s foreign direct investment plummeted an annual 48.1 percent, the most on record, to $10 billion in the first nine months of the year after the economy slid into its worst crisis in a decade.

 

Labor

 

Workers Fined In Russian Far East For Not Wearing Masks

Officials in the Russian Far East's Khabarovsk Krai have begun fining organizations and companies that do not follow "mask regime" requirements, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

 

Russia's Most Productive Time Of Year Approaching

Russians’ highest productivity levels at work are in winter.

 

Russian Regions May Change Zonal Times Depending On Population's Wishes

A change of zonal time by minus one hour may take place in Russian regions at any moment depending on the wishes of their population, Russian President's aide Arkady Dvorkovich said.

 

Retail

 

Wal-Mart Still Eyes Russia After Local Head Quit

U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it was continuing to explore investment opportunities in Russia after the head of its Moscow office resigned.

 

Wal-Mart Resignation Throws Further Light On Competitive Russian Retail Market

Interview with Art Vartanian, CEO at Retail Solutions, about the problems of global retailers making their presence felt in Russia’s retail market.

 

State Corporations

 

Medvedev Backs Reform Of Russian State Companies

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday gave provisional backing to an overhaul of Russia's powerful state corporations after the prosecutor general accused them of "inappropriate and ineffective" use of state resources.