Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel suggested in the course of his meeting with India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the position of India’s honorary consul should be introduced in the region. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the minister found this a good idea.

The 13th Russian Economic Forum devoted to the country’s regions’ investment policies as the key factor of Russia’s sustainable economic development began in Yekaterinburg on May 16, 2008. The event was attended by representatives of the Federal Assembly, the Russian Federation Government, officers from the country’s leading ministries, members of foreign delegations, top business executives, and members of Russian scientific community. The forum proceedings were coordinated by the Expert magazine’s editor-in-chief Valeriy Fadeev and head of Troika Dialog Andrei Sharonov. The agenda of the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to sole traders despite overdraft plummeted by 82.44% (from 7.341 million RUR to 1.289 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank to sole traders for over 3 years dropped by 37.61% (from 9.585 million RUR to 5.98 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 85.71% (from 1.4 million RUR to 200,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to state-run for-profit organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 80.08% (from 1.466 million RUR to 292,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

Mashinniy Dvor, the car dealer, is about to enter Yekaterinburg’s car market, the company’s press officer reports. They have already reached an agreement with Sberbank’s West-Ural branch and will receive 1.8 billion RUR in terms of credit. This money is to be directed to financing a development project aimed at putting up show rooms and maintenance centers in Ural Federal District and Privolzhskiy Federal District. The project requires a total of 2.64 billion RUR worth of investments, with 70% of the financing to be supplied by Sberbank and 30% to be produced by the company itself. The

The number of operating Russian banks and crediting organizations dropped to 1,129 in January-April 2008. 1,084 entities are banks proper, while the remaining 45 ones are non-bank crediting organizations, Central Bank of Russia reports. The Central Bank has called off or annulled licenses of 145 crediting organizations over the four months of 2008, and 1,841 entities have gone into liquidation due to cancellation of a license (1,437), reorganization (403), or failing to back up one’s authorized capital (1). 297 organizations did have their general licenses on May 1, 2008, 900 banks had

Following the unanimous decision of Concern Kalina’s Board of Directors, former General Director Timur Goryaev was elected the company’s BOD Chairman, while BOD member and former Director for Economics and Finances Alexander Petrov was unanimously elected the company’s General Director, Kalina’s press officer reports.

The average price of one liter of gasoline came to 21.13 RUR in Russia on May 5, 2008. AI 76 is available for 18.83 RUR per liter, AI 92 is available for 22.2 RUR per liter, AI 95 and up is sold for 23.54 RUR per liter, and diesel fuel now costs 21.81 RUR per liter on average.