UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 16, 2016. Yekaterinburg was one of Russia’s three largest car markets last year, Avtostat reports. 17,550 automobiles were sold here last year; Kazan and Samara were the other two markets on the country’s Top3 list, followed by Nizhniy Novgorod, Krasnodar, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, and Voronezh. Yekaterinburg was, in fact, the only Ural Federal District-based city in the rating. Around 90% of automobiles sold in Yekaterinburg in 2015 were by foreign brands. At the same time, the Russian AvtoVAZ came second in terms of the number of cars sold; the Korean brand Hyundai

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 16, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s healthcare workers’ average monthly pay dropped by 0.4% in December 2015 compared with December 2014 and came to 34,200 RUR, Sverdlovstat reports. The salaries of people working in the social security sector also declined by 5.7%, down to 58,000 RUR a month on average, as did those of people employed in the fishing industry (-2.1%, down to 15,900 RUR a month). Additionally, salaries in the education sector dropped by 1%, down to 32,700 RUR a month on average. According to Sverdlovstat’s analysts, salaries rose most in the social

UrBC, Moscow, February 16, 2016. Russians consumed 5.3% less strong alcohol last year compared with one year previously; interestingly, the consumption of gin and tequila dropped most noticeably, by a whopping 20.3%, while that of whisky declined by 13.8%, RIA Novosti reports. Analysts say the decrease was observable not only in quantitative but also in monetary terms: customers spent 1.5% less money on strong drinks. Experts from the company Nielsen explain customers tend to choose Russian drinks increasingly more often since imported alcohol has grown painfully expensive. Director of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2016. Russian banks reported 100,000 suspicious financial transactions (totaling to 184bnRUR) to authorities last year, Prime refers to Deputy Head of Rosfinmonitoring Galina Bobrysheva as stating. Now it is the Central Bank’s requirement that banks must report all of their customers’ suspicious-looking transactions to Rosfinmonitoring. ‘There were some 100,000 such cases last year, with the total amount of money transferred from closing accounts coming to nearly 184bn RUR. We should be thankful to the banking sector for detecting unusual customer activity,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2016. The price of medicines rose by 10.3% in Russia last year; this was slightly below the overall inflation rate affecting all kinds of goods and services. Still, the price of non-vital medicines rose by as much as 14.2%, DMS Group’s research findings indicate. Russia’s pharmaceutical market expanded by 8.5%, up to 1.25 trillion RUR last year. In dollar terms, however, sales dropped by 32% (down to $20.7bn) compared with the year 2014. In physical terms, sales decreased by 4.4%, down to 5.1bn packs/bottles. ‘The market has been gradually slowing down and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2016. 53% of respondents in a recent survey feel poverty and growing prices are Russia’s main threats at the moment, Interfax refers to Levada Center’s findings as indicating. 49% and 35% of those surveyed said the economic crisis and unemployment, respectively, were other serious threats. 27% of respondents are worried Russia might get involved in military conflicts outside the country, 16% are afraid of future uncertainty, and 15% are concerned with the growing tension between Russia and the West. 82% of respondents agree that Russia is going through an

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2016. The average price of a square meter of housing on Yekaterinburg existing home market has dropped below 70,000 RUR for the first time in the last three years and came to 69,975 RUR on February 8, 2016, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. ‘This was last seen in December 2012; still, housing prices have been declining slowly enough, by around 0.2% a week and 0.9% a month,’ the Chamber’s analysts say. The market supply still exceeds the current demand. Even though the number of apartments on offer has shrunk by 10% in the last three and a half months, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil directed 203m RUR to charity projects last year, the corporation’s press service reports. Ural Vagon Zavod pays special attention to social welfare and charity issues and keeps allocating more funds for the purpose. As the company is also the city’s primary employer, its efforts improve the lives of its employees as well as contribute to the development of the entire city and Sverdlovsk Region on the whole. The plant invests considerable funds in vocational training and job counseling every

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region is the Russian federal constituency with the fifth largest number of active loans, National Bureau of Credit History reports. The overall loan amount reached 2.331bn RUR on January 1, 2016, including 1.209bn RUR worth of consumer loans and 1.122bn RUR worth of micro-financing agreements. According to the Bureau, the figures for Russia on the whole came to 69.2bn RUR at the start of the year (up 16.7% compared with October 2014), including 35.3bn RUR worth of consumer loans (31,500 RUR per loan on average) and 33.8bn RUR worth of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. SKB-Bank presented its special souvenir 100-ruble bill dedicated to the Republic of Crimea becoming part of the Russian Federation. Head of the bank’s Operational Department Larisa Larionova said this is the second souvenir banknote in Russian history so far. Prior to this, a souvenir coin dedicated to the Sochi Olympics was made available in 2014. The ‘Crimean’ bill has an unusual vertical layout; its two sides portray the city of Sebastopol and the Crimea as well as the memorial dedicated to the ships which were sunk in Sebastopol Bay, the Swallow’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. Russian Copper Company was issued a state-funded, preferential-terms loan by Roseksimbank (backed by the Industry & Trade Ministry) so that the business could introduce new technologies and improve its product quality, the company press service reports. A two-year credit line ($40m) was offered to the company in late 2015; the borrowed funds will be directed to the production of hi tech copper wire for the foreign markets. ‘This was a benchmark contract for both Roseksimbank and Russian Copper Company, so the bank decided to have some souvenirs made

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) and VUZ-Bank are going to hold a seminar on generational theory and personnel management in business for local employers on February 16, UBRD’s press service reports. Head of UBRD Training Center Ksenia Sozonova is going to be the main speaker at the event. Sozonova has been active in HR, business coaching, and management for over a decade now. She will dwell on the modern personnel management trends and efficient incentive and motivation mechanisms for employees belonging to different

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) are now accepting orders from outside the corporation, the company press service reports. One of the customers based in Kurgan Region ordered caterpillar tracks for Chetra, a tractor made in Cheboksary. The first batch consisted of five sets of tracks, with three more sets to be delivered to customers in February. The plant is also making tracks for one of China’s largest road-building vehicle manufacturers. ‘The caterpillar tracks we make for tractors from Cheboksary

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, February 12, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and ChTPZ Group signed an agreement to determine the price of the hot-rolled metal sheets made at MMK’s Mill 5000 and delivered to ChTPZ Group’s Vysota 239 Department. The agreement was signed by MMK CEO Pavel Shilyaev and ChTPZ Group CEO Alexander Grubman, the two companies’ joint press release states. The idea is to determine the price of steel sheets on the basis of raw materials’ costs, production costs, and delivery costs. The agreement is valid through 2018. ‘ChTPZ Group and MMK are long-time partners, so,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 11, 2016. The average monthly pay quoted in Yekaterinburg-based employers’ job ads dropped by 1,000 RUR and came to 33,000 RUR last year, HeadHunter reports. Jobs in Top Management are paid the best (80,000 RUR a month), those in Raw Stuffs Development are second best-paid ones (60,000 RUR), and those in Construction & Real Estate are third best-paid ones (50,000 RUR). As for the bottom of the list, it appears that receptionists are offered the lowest monthly pay (25,000 RUR). ‘Remarkably, marketing and advertising experts and accountants are also paid less

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 11, 2016. Only 50% of agreements signed between Mid-Urals-based businesses and their foreign partners were fully implemented by January 1, 2016, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry representative in Yekaterinburg Alexander Kharlov said at a press conference. Kharlov said over 200 such contracts were signed last year, and only 49% were still valid. There are a number of reasons for this. ‘First of all, some of these contracts were signed before the enactment of FZ 4, the Federal Act on Coordination of Russian Federation Constituencies’ International & Foreign

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 12, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region directed 244.2bn RUR to Russia’s budget last year, which exceeded the figures for 2014 by 6.4%, or 14.7bn RUR, Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service reports. Most of the money (84.3%) came from taxpayers in the processing industries, production and distribution of water, natural gas, and electric power, the building industry, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and communication, real estate, services, and finance. The increase in the amount of taxes was the greatest (28%, or 10.838bn RUR) in the wholesale

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 11, 2016. The average price of a square meter of housing decreased by 5.8% on Yekaterinburg existing home market in the last quarter of 2015 against one year earlier, Domofond.ru and Avito Nedvizhimost report. The average per-square-meter price used to come to 78,500 RUR in the last quarter of 2014 and dropped down to 73,900 RUR one year later. Despite the declining prices, Yekaterinburg homes are still considerably more expensive than the Russian market’s average (63,200 RUR per m2). According to Avito’s findings, price fluctuations vary somewhat depending on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 11, 2016. Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK and Gazprom signed an additional agreement relating to the price of large-diameter pipes the latter buys from the former, the company press service reports. The paper was signed by TMK Chair of the Board Dmitri Pumpyanski and Gazprom Chair of the Board Alexei Miller. The first such agreement was signed in 2012 and stated that the final price should be determined by raw metal price quotations, steel sheet and LDP price fluctuations, and the Russian industrial manufacturers’ price-change index. It was also stated that the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 10, 2016. The number of flu patients went up by 1.6 times in Sverdlovsk Region last year compared with the year 2014, head of Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal State Statistical Service Elena Kutina said at a press conference today. Also, the number of common cold and stomach bug patients rose by 9.5% and 3.4%, respectively. Some of Sverdlovsk Region’s towns have already reported they are faced with a common cold and flu epidemic; some of them are suffering from medicine shortage.