Sergey Vetyshev of SKB-Bank is positive that the continuing decrease in the U.S. dollar exchange rate is inevitable. ‘The dollar has been going down for two days now. The Bank of Russia set the exchange rate at 26.55 RUR per dollar today (which means it is now .001 RUR cheaper). The euro exchange rate was set at 34.38 RUR per euro, which is .007 RUR greater than yesterday,’ Mr Vetyshev says. ‘The dollar reached its local maximum on Friday, January 12, 2007 when its rate came to 1.2864 per euro on the global market and to 26.58 RUR in Russia. The dollar was supported by the data on the U.S.

‘A lot of gambling house owners are trying to sell their business before July 1, 2007, while the prices are still more favourable for the sellers,’ President of Ural Gambling Industry Development Association Alexei Galaguzov said relating to the federal law on the state regulation of the gambling industry that has recently come into effect. Mr Galaguzov confirmed that the gambling houses would only operate until July 1, 2007. The only companies that will be permitted to go on with their business after this date will be the ones with at least 600m RUR worth of assets, 50 machines, and the area

Koltsovo Airport assessed its activity in 2006. Its passenger traffic amounted to 1,764,948 people, including 1,128,489 passengers who used domestic flights, 488,954 people who used international flights, and 147,505 passengers who travelled to the countries of the CIS. The figure reached the point of 1.5 million people as early as the beginning of November. The airport serviced 13,289 take-offs in 2006, with 10,013 planes going to different Russian cities, 2,349 aircrafts going abroad, and 927 airplanes flying to the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Koltsovo Airport

‘The wage arrears in Sverdlovsk Region came to 30 million RUR on January 1, 2007; however, the figure reached the point of 152 million on December 1, 2006. The debt was reduced due the joint efforts of the public prosecution authorities, local government, and Sverdlovsk Region Labour inspectorate,’ Deputy State Inspector for Legal Issues of Sverdlovsk Region division of Labour inspectorate Maxim Vedernikov announced at the press conference. Last year’s inspections revealed that 533 regional enterprises failed to pay the salaries on time to 23,336 employees. As a result, 858 orders to

Euromonitor, the British researcher, summed up the results of the Russian strong drinks market activity in 2006. The wine and vodka sales went down 7.5% (down to 102.5 million decalitres) and 3.9% (down to 175.6 million decalitres), respectively, yet in terms of money the sales grew by 2.2% (up to $7.4 billion) and 11.2% (up to 11.3 billion), respectively. In the meantime, the beer and low-alcohol drinks sales rose by 10.4% (up to 968 million decalitres) and 17% (up to 54.7 million decalitres) (in terms of volume), respectively, and by 22% (up to $16.4 billion) and 33% (up to $1.8 billion)

The international round table discussion devoted to the international experience of state support of educational loans is going to take place in Moscow on January 29, 2007 The event is coordinated by the State Duma Bank and Financial Market Committee and supported by the Association of Regional Russian Banks, KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW development bank), and Berlin Economic Society. Among the speakers invited to take part in the discussion are the State Duma deputies, members of the Soviet of the Federation, bank directors and leaders of bank unions, and some international experts. The

‘We looked at over 3,500 complaints regarding unscrupulous employers in 2006, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 20%,’ Deputy State Inspector for Legal Issues of Sverdlovsk Region division of Labour inspectorate Maxim Vedernikov announced at the press conference. According to Mr Vedernikov, most offences have to do with the violations of working conditions regulations (work/rest distribution), arrears of wages or not paying them at all. ‘As a rule, very few employees dare file a complaint since they have to find the evidence themselves,’ Mr Vedernikov noted.

SKB-Bank gave its clients 1,667 mortgage loans in 2006. This is twice the number of loans given in 2005; the figure also exceeds the total number of mortgages provided since the very beginning of the bank’s mortgage lending program (1,569 loans were provided in 2003-2005). The participatory construction lending (loans to cover the price of an apartment in a house under construction) has been developing even faster. The bank issued 189 such loans in 2006, which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 4.5 times and comes to twice the number of all loans issued throughout the whole existence of the

According to the Central scientific research and computing lab of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, Russian companies have a chance to ask the tax officials for information on their potential business partners now. ‘Prior to going through a transaction, one is better off checking out the other party with the help of a tax officer and finding out things like when the company was actually set up, whether it produces all the accounting records and pays taxes regularly. Tax inspectorates could provide one with the information needed to make a decision,’ Deputy GD of the lab Yuri Volkov said to

Starting February 1, 2007, it will no longer be legal to deal in retail sale of alcohol if the bottles you offer don’t have a special health warning that says that too much alcohol is bad for your health or the contra-indication information prescribed by the Russian Federation Ministry of Health and Social Development. In addition, the product information label must provide the names of the ingredients (including additives used in the making process), indicate whether the product has any GM-based components, and state that the drink has some health-hazardous substances as defined by the