Russian banks keep making more profits, even though this growth isn’t as fast as during the previous periods. According to RBC.Rating, the consolidated net profit of 500 Russian banks that were featured in the rating for the first half of the year came to nearly 402bn RUR, which is only 14.5% more than on July 1, 2011, SKB-Bank’s press service reports. However, some banks’ indicators are many times better than the median figures. For one, SKB-Bank’s net profit rose by over two times and came to 1.787bn RUR. This brought the bank on the list of Russia’s top 25 most profitable lending

Sverdlovsk Region’s gross domestic product is expected to rise by 20% to 25%, was Vice Premier of the regional government Alexander Petrov’s forecast at today’s briefing. ‘The industrial growth reached 12% in the eight months of 2012. The optical and the ferrous metallurgical industries are doing quite well. In 2012, the GDP will grow by 20-25%,’ Petrov said. Meanwhile, the Vice Premier pointed out that prices went down in the metallurgical industry in the eight months of the year: this is true, for example, of nickel and aluminum prices. ‘Russia joining the WTO will be a lot of help to the

Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha-based NIGMAS will pay everything it owes its workers after the company’s primary product, pig iron, has been sold,’ Vice Premier of Sverdlovsk Region government Alexander Petrov saidt at today’s briefing in Yekaterinburg. At the moment, the plant’s former employees haven’t been compensation for the skipped vacations and haven’t received any severance pay when they were made redundant. ‘The bulk of NIGMAS’s debts has been paid off. The only remaining debt is the compensations, which comes to about 11m RUR,’ Petrov said. Moscow Arbitration Court declared NIGMAS, the owner

Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Uraltrac, which joined the International Pipeline Contractors Association IPLOСA last year, will present its produce at the organization’s annual convention, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service refers to the company’s Far Abroad Sales Directorate as saying. The forum, to be attended by the world’s leading producers and contractors in this market segment, will take place in Istanbul in mid-September. The presentation by Chelyabinsk tractor manufacturers will let the potential customers take a closer look at the company’s potential. Companies from North and

Ural Airlines is launching a new Moscow-Nukus-Moscow flight on September 12. Flights will be operated every Wednesday. Tickets for the flight can be booked via the air carrier’s official website www.uralairlines.com and in the booking offices, the airline’s press service reports. All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated using the modern and comfortable Airbus A320 airlines. Nukus is the center of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan (a part of Uzbekistan) and an important spot in the country’s administrative, economic, and cultural development. The city is surrounded by deserts on