Economy

2008-05-15 09:33:14  “The harvest will be at least the same as last year, but we are facing many issues, including unfair competition,” says Russia’s Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev in an exclusive interview with BM’s Alexei Podymov.

2008-05-07 09:56:14  Heated debates with economy-related ministers in the government seen at the cabinet’s meeting with the president received its logical continuation. It has been decided to set up a Russian development bank. The new large stateowned player on the stock market is expected to start working this autumn and, apparently, will be able to take part in additional issues and initial public offerings of some leading companies.

2008-05-07 09:51:08  Recently, the venture sector of the Russian economy is becoming increasingly popular with the foreign financiers. It has been growing and, importantly, bringing almost guaranteed handsome profits.

2008-05-07 09:43:57  The last liquid asset of Yukos, once the darling of the Russian oil sector which was declared bankrupt last August, was auctioned on May 11 in Moscow. An obscure company Prana paid more than RUR100bn (about $4bn) for the 22-floor Yukos Headquarters at the Paveletskaya Railway Terminal.

2008-05-15 09:30:53  While the private aviation market soars like never before, many companies are looking east, especially to Russia.

2008-05-19 13:17:05  Three young entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to combine Swiss watch-making know-how with Soviet submarine technology. The result? A unique, waterproof watch that athletes - and posers - are wrapping around their wrists.

2008-05-15 09:29:14  On May 17, Russia’s Federal Customs Service sued Bank of New York (BoNY) in Moscow for $22.5bn of alleged loss resulting from BoNY’s involvement in laundering shadow imports in Russia in 1996-1999. According to the claim, a “group of Russian individuals and companies,” as a US court put it, continuously understated the value of imported goods to pay less duties and relied on BoNY for actual payments in the US. Last July, US courts indicted BoNY executives for fraud worth some $7bn. As the Russian customs officials seek to continue the inquiry formally closed in November 2005, some big names may yet emerge, causing embarrassment – at best – for individuals and companies whose involvement with BoNY in the 1990s helped them climb to the lists of Russia’s most wealthy and successful.

2008-05-07 08:46:28  11th St. Petersburg Economic Forum was attended by 120 top executives representing the world’s biggest companies. The total number of participants exceeded 6,000, including official delegations from over 60 countries. The official programme involved 2,500 people. This year’s event saw an unprecedented number of direct participants in discussions, said Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, adding that last year the number was 1,200.

2008-05-19 14:07:43  Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced on May 31st that assets he retained after a corporate divorce with his longtime partner and ally Vladimir Potanin would constitute a private innovation fund. Prokhorov has predicted bad times and low prices for nickel, where his interests used to be concentrated, and takes on hydrogen energy and nanotechnology instead.

2008-05-15 09:24:58  The potential for collaboration between Russian and European small businesses is enormous, but it’s a tough knot to tie; that’s why Opora has just opened a European bureau in Zurich.