The global economy might switch to a single currency by 2020, German Gref said in the course of a round table discussion on the economic consequences of a single-currency world. This discussion was coordinated within the framework of the 12th international economic forum in Saint Petersburg. German Gref believes a single world currency may emerge due to the free flow of capital. ‘The U.S. dollar had been the world’s only universal currency until the late nineties; then, the euro emerged. Over the last decade, the euro has grown very competitive, becoming a viable alternative to the dollar,

Officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Moscow headquarters and Ural Federal District’s public prosecution authorities disclosed some new crimes attributed to the so-called black raiders, a group headed by a thirty-five-year-old Yekaterinburg dweller (who is currently on the international wanted file). The officer’s efforts were part of a special economic offense prevention program coordinated by Ural Federal District’s law-enforcement agencies. The members of the group are believed to have created fictitious trade liabilities at one of Sverdlovsk region’s large industrial enterprises

Ural Airlines came up with a performance reports for the five months of 2008. The report makes it obvious that the company has improved all of its development indicators since the beginning of the year. The airline rendered its services to 448,365 passengers in January-May 2008, which exceeds the figures for January-May 2007 by 20%. In May 2008, the passenger turnover rose by 44% against a year earlier and reached 133,229 people: this increase largely has to do with the beginning of the summer vacation season. Passengers who used the carrier’s international flights have outnumbered those who

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 41.5% (from 27.573 million RUR to 16.129 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to sole traders for up to 30 days went down by 70.13% (from 63.577 million RUR to 18.987 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 22.99% (from 8.296 million RUR to 6.388 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

A group of delegates came back to Chelyabinsk Region from Japan where they were looking into the ways of setting up a joint venture on industrial and consumption waste recycling. Chelyabinsk Region has been cooperating with Japan since 2005, mostly in the field of slag processing and production control. The new venture is expected to result in a set of waste-recycling enterprises and in a better environment in the region. The project is supervised by First Deputy Governor Yuri Klepov, who also chaired the delegation to Japan. While in Japan, the regional officials visited the premises of a

Moscow, 10 June, 2008 - UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce that it has successfully launched test production of the key component of a unique environmentally sound aluminium production technology - colloidal anode paste.љ The total investment in this project will amount to USD 25 million. The main goal of this project, developed by the UC RUSAL Engineering and Construction Division, is the development of the ideal Soederberg reduction cell, which minimises environmental impact on the consumption of raw materials and matches the production

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service is going to re-hear the case of Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt and Lukoil-Permnefteprodukt (accused of a secret collusion) on June 24, 2008. Head of the Service’s commodity market monopoly control department Yulia Anisimova says the first session did not result in any final decision, as more data and documents were necessary. ‘Should the two companies be found guilty, they will have to stop colliding and face administrative liability in accordance with Article 14.32 of the Administrative Code,’ she notes.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days dropped by 70.84% (from 27.5 million RUR to 8.02 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

UralTransBank informed its creditors that use the bank’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary at 32a Technicheskaya St that this subsidiary is to be considered only an additional office from now on. The news was announced via the bank’s official website.

ChTPZ Group won control over the key players on the geophysical services market of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region and Tomsk Region: Yuganskneftegazgeofizika and Tomskneftegazgeofizika. The acquisition of two geophysical companies was part of the Group’s strategy targeted at fully meeting the demands of the O&G industry. Last year, the implementation of this strategy resulted in setting up Rimera, a special company that deals in offering exploration, oilfield construction, and pipeline design and construction services to the oil and gas businesses. Rimera is to unite ChTPZ’s

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinance to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 73.93% (from 165.524 million RUR to 43.147 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg intends to sell its jet fuel at 30,600 RUR per ton at the end of June 2008, while Domodedovo airport of Moscow offers its fuel for 29,800 RUR per ton and airports of Chita, Anapa, and Sochi will sell their fuel for 29,576 RUR per ton, 29,424 RUR per ton, and 29,500 RUR per ton, respectively. The set consisting of jet fuel with VAT and the cost of the filling is going to be offered by Koltsovo airport for 37,194 RUR per ton at the end of June, while most other airports do not charge more than 37,000 RUR for this. Domodedovo sells this set for 36,143 RUR per

ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co (part of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation) made and delivered MKPSH 45 slag-ladling machine for Kazzinc based in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. The assembly jobs are expected to begin in August 2008, while the delivery contract was signed in May 2007. The machine is to be employed at the new lead and copper plants that Kazzinc and Engineering Dobersek GmbH are currently putting up in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The newly designed machine’s unique advantage lies in its outstanding productivity. The unit is capable of producing 45 tons of slag briquettes

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service has recently published a report on inspecting the printed ads and billboards of over fifty regional banks and bank’s subsidiaries. The Service reports violations of advertising legislation were detected in eight banks, six of which have already been found guilty. Two cases, involving VUZ Bank and UralTransBank, are still being considered in court. In addition, the inspections resulted in eleven administrative lawsuits, including two claims laid against Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank and cases involving Bank24.ru, SberInvestBank, and

‘Forbes is apparently trying to take revenge upon Chelyabinsk for our preventing the global chain stores from entering our market,’ Mayor of Chelyabinsk Mikhail Yurevitch said to UrBC. The Forbes magazine came up with a rating of Russian cities best suited for business development. Over eighty cities were featured in the rating that was topped by Krasnodar, followed by Kaliningrad and Kazan. Chelyabinsk did not make it to the top twenty and was only given the 36th position. ‘We’ve got all the conditions necessary for business development. The fact that we are reluctant to let transnational

URSA Bank decreased the interest rate on its mortgage loans by 2%. Now, if you make a 10% down payment and borrow the rest of the sum for three to thirty years, the average interest rate comes to 15% a year. You can apply for anything between 100,000 RUR and 15 million RUR. ‘Decreasing the rate was possible due to our funds growing less expensive. One reason for this was the recent $36m loan we obtained from BSTDB in order to develop our mortgage lending programs in the regions where the bank operates,’ says URSA Bank’s Deputy GD Petr Morsin. According to RBC.Rating’s data, URSA Bank was one

UrBC, Magnitogorsk (Chelyabinsk area), 09.06.2008. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps building up on the volume of metal goods supplied onto the home market. The country’s dynamically growing rolled metal goods market offers the enterprise a good chance to do so. MMK’s top executives see the home market as their strategically important priority one, so the company’s home market sales rose by 47% in 2005-2007, while the general production growth only came to 20% over the same period of time. Last year, MMK’s Russian customers received 7.3 million tons of goods, which exceeds the

VISA International's Board of Directors decided to promote SKB-Bank to its Principal Member, which means the bank can now expand the range of bank card products and services it offers. ‘SKB-Bank’s approved Principal Member status means that the bank is a truly reliable and large-scale business,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deputy Chairman Oleg Demin. SKB-Bank first joined the VISA system in December 2004 and has so far issued over 470,000 bank cards, most of which are VISA ones. The Principal Member status allows the bank to handle direct operations with the international system and use VISA’s