UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The average micro-loan amount issued to a Sverdlovsk Region-based borrower came to RUB 8,383 in the last quarter of 2019 (up 5.1% on one year earlier, when the figure was RUB 7,978), the National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate. In Russia on the whole, the average micro-loan amount rose by 7.7% in QIV’2019. The trend was for the smallest loan segment (under RUB 10,000) to go down, with a 12.5% drop in the last quarter of 2019 against the last quarter of 2018. ‘The increase in the average micro-loan amount has to do with the shrinking

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The overall amount of construction jobs carried out on Sverdlovsk Region’s market amounted to RUB 203.4bn in January-December 2019, Sverdlovskstat reports. This is 10.8% less than one year earlier (in comparable prices). ‘As of January 1, 2020, all the construction contracts landed by builders (excluding small enterprises with under fifteen people and sole traders) totaled to RUB 5.3bn; this is expected to keep them busy with orders for 0.9 month(s),’ the town council says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. Housing developers had 12 new non-residential buildings (total area: 24,700 m2) commissioned in Yekaterinburg in January 2020, the town council’s press service reports. The Urals’ capital now has a number of new industrial, administrative, and multi-purpose structures, shopping spaces, cafes/restaurants, and car maintenance facilities. 22,600 m2 of housing also got commissioned last month (up 12% on January 2019). This amounts to two apartment buildings and 17 one-family houses. This means the total amount of non-residential and residential facilities

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The staff representatives (known as work collective councils) of OOO FORES’s four branches met in Kuryi on February 4, the company’s press service reports. Chair of Sukhoi Log council Zhanna Russkikh spoke about the new amendments to the plant’s collective agreement that had been proposed by the workers themselves. For one, parents of school-starters used their one-extra-day-of-paid-leave option on September 1. Additionally, the branch now offers more financial aid programs and has managed to improve its drinking water supply for the employees. Chair of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The adjustage department at EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) supported Kindergarten 2 in Petrokamenskoye, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘Workers from the department built two new verandas instead of the old ones, set up a pram storage room, repaired the central entry porch, fixed the electric oven in the kitchen, and installed new doors at the emergency exit. They also purchased a dozen new plastic-framed windows with support from Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly deputies Vladimir