UrBC, Moscow, November 2, 2015. The Russian Central Bank’s Board of Directors voted to keep the key interest rate at 11% a year on October 30, 2015, the bank’s website states. ‘The Bank of Russia’s BOD decided on October 30, 2015 to keep the key interest rate at 11%, as considerable inflation risks still hold and there have been no significant changes in the inflation risks/economic slowdown risks ratio. Given this decision, moderately rigid monetary factors and weakened domestic demand will keep on contributing to bringing the inflation rate down,’ the website states. The BOD’s next meeting

UrBC, Moscow, November 2, 2015. The net loss of AutoVAZ (calculated in accordance with the IAS) came to 15.8bn RUR in the nine months of 2015, Finmarket refers to the company report as stating. The car maker’s revenues dropped by 2.9%, down to 131.2bn RUR, while the cost of sales rose by 2.9%, up to 133.1bn RUR. Gross loss was registered at 1.8bn RUR (against 5.8bn RUR in gross profit a year earlier). The company’s management costs went up by 7%, up to 8.6bn RUR, while its selling expenses increased by 19.5%, up to 3.2bn RUR, and its R&D expenses by 39%, up by 1.2bn RUR. Pre-tax loss

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. Yekaterinburg water supply and maintenance authorities completed the gradual closing down of the city’s outdoor fountains for the winter, to protect them from the cold, the city council reports. All of the fountains have been prepared for winter by now, with all the water removed carefully from the pipes and the bowls sweeped and scrubbed. Some of the engineering infrastructure has also been removed. ‘The city council had one of the most famous fountains, the Stone Flower, renovated this year: all the electronic equipment, cables, pipes, and the pump

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. 6,025 people have been sent on forced leaves by their Sverdlovsk Region-based employers by late October; this is 195 people more than a week earlier, Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly Deputy Andrei Alshevskikh states on his Facebook page, with data quoted from the local Labor & Employment Department. The number of companies planning redundancies or resorting to part-time employment has gone up from 201 to 207, so the number of workers at risk has gone up from 108,503 to 119,960 people, while the number of those likely to be laid off has gone up

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. Omsktransmash (an Omsk-based member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) was given an honorary certificate for taking part in the Military Siberia Project. According to the corporation’s press service, the exhibition/guided tour project aims at patriotic education of the youth and enlightening students about the city’s wartime history. The project was designed in the year of the V-Day 70th anniversary and the year Omsk turned 300. The Military Siberia Project was assessed very favorably by experts and given the prestigious nation-wide Russian