The Federal State Statistics Service came up with the data on the consumer price index in April 2008. The nonfood item indices came to 100.5% on average (the indices for textiles, clothes and linen, knitwear, footwear, cleaning chemicals and laundry detergents, tobacco products, consumer electronics and home appliances, TV and radio sets, building materials, car petrol, and medicines exceeded the figures for March 2008 by .5%, .6%, .7%, .5%, 1.8%, .8%, .4%, .2%, 1.3%, 4.3%, and .8%, respectively). AI 76 (AI 80) gasoline and diesel fuel grew most expensive in April 2008, as their prices went

Ural Customs Administration was able to direct 4.66 billion RUR worth of revenues to the federal budget in April 2008. This means the Administration managed to exceed the target figures determined by the Federal Tax Service in terms of import and export by 19.7%. The Administration transferred 17.14 billion RUR in the federal budget in January-April 2008, which exceeds the target figures determined by the Federal Tax Service by 19.8%.

URSA Bank starts this year’s Course Leader Scholarship program this May, the bank’s press officer reports. The scholarship is aimed at finding and supporting gifted students with some promising managerial potential in Russia’s best colleges and universities. The contest is to be held in twenty-four colleges in the Urals and Siberia, namely, in cities like Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Barnaul, and Chelyabinsk. ‘URSA Bank looks for leadership, potential, and youthfulness. We always welcome people who are willing to reveal their best professional

‘Chevrolet sales increased invariably in January-March 2008 against the first quarter of 2007, and we expect them to exceed the figures for the second quarter of 2007 in April-June 2008,’ Autobahn’s Sales Manager Dmitriy Poleschuk said to UrBC. AUTOSTAT reports Russian automobile market is now only Europe’s fourth largest market. 73% of automobiles sold in Russia were foreign ones, while Chevrolet is still Russia’s best selling foreign brand that even managed to build up its share of the market up to 9.3%. ‘We feel the increase in sales has to do with more car loan offers becoming available.

According to the data available for the first three months of 2008, Russian automobile market failed to retain last year’s position in the European rating and is now only Europe’s fourth largest market. AUTOSTAT reports some 630,000 new cars were sold in Russia in January-March 2008, 460,000, or 73% of those being foreign cars. Chevrolet is still Russia’s best selling foreign brand that even managed to build up its share of the market up to 9.3% (58,500 automobiles). Nevertheless, Russian LADA has remained the best-selling make of a car on the domestic market, with sales coming to 145,000

According to the data provided by AUTOSTAT analytical agency, the Russian market of foreign light commercial vehicles has increased eightfold over the last four years, rising from 6,283 to 49,711 automobiles. In fact, this market segment doubles every year. AUTOSTAT’s analysts believe this segment of the market is highly likely to keep growing next year as well.

The court of Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region returned the verdict of guilty on Andrei Kuchukaev, acting foreman of one of Sverdlovsk Region Railways’ subdivisions. It was revealed in the course of the preliminary investigation and the inquest that Andrei Kuchukaev stole 15 railroad rails with the total length of over 120 meters in October 2006. The rails belonged to the railway company, so the theft did it more than 30,000 RUR worth of damage. The stolen rails were sold to some commercial enterprise that used them to put up a warehouse, Ural Federal District’s public prosecution authorities

SKB-Bank’s cash-in ATM accepted over 1 million RUR over a little less than a fortnight; the ATM is located at the bank’s headquarters at 75 Kuibyshev St. This new multitasking machine combines the options of withdrawing cash from one’s account and topping it up with cash, paying one’s mobile phone and housing bills or for using satellite TV. This is, in fact, the bank; first cash-in ATM, but it is already clear that the service is extremely popular with customers and needs to be made more wide-spread. This is why another such ATM is to appear at Yekaterinburg’s Dirigible Mall very soon.

Troika Dialog Investment Company believes Sberbank’s shares are likely to be on the increase now due to both the bank’s nice-looking performance figures and the global investors’ interest in the bank’s stock that has been gradually recovering lately.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days despite overdraft dropped by 81.08% (from 11.94 million RUR to 2.258 million RUR) in January-April 2008.