January 14, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region Government keeps ignoring the increasing rate of suicides in many local towns. Psychiatrists say suicide rate is directly proportional to the local economic situation. Sverdlovsk Region’s Senior Psychiatrist Oleg Serdyuk says Yekaterinburg is one of the least affected cities. ‘Other towns, in the meanwhile, have a much higher suicide rate than others. I am talking about cases with actual lethal outcomes here. Economy is definitely a factor,’ Serdyuk said. ‘The social policies that crush the population influence the number of suicides directly,’ says head of

January 13, 2016. The cost of administering Sverdlovsk Region Government’s debt rose by 4.3 times compared with the year 2012. At the time, the debt servicing limit was set at 1,228,241,600 RUR, whereas the constituency’s budget for 2016 allocates as much as 5,568,091,400 RUR for the purpose. The constituency’s state debt amounted to 52bn RUR on December 1, 2016and could reach as much as 70bn RUR by the first of January.

January 13, 2016. The number of Russia’s officially unemployed went up by 1.9% in the last week of December 2015 and came to 993,100 people, Finmarket refers to the Russian Labor Ministry as stating. ‘The number of people officially registered as jobless rose by 1.9% between December 23 and December 29, 2015 and came to 993,104 people (974,946 people on December 23),’ the ministry says. It is reported the unemployment only decreased in twelve Russian constituencies in the said week. The number of jobless went up in seventy-one constituencies, with the unemployment rate up by over 1% in

January 13, 2016. Expert RA (RAEX) demoted Uralmashzavod’s rating down to B++ (Satisfactory), with Negative rating outlook. This change from Stable to Negative is reflexive of the increased likelihood of the rating going further down in the medium term, the agency explains. The plant used to be rated as A (High). ’The dropping rating had to do with the company’s funds (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) diminishing to a point below zero in the second quarter of 2015 and with the lack of any plan on the proprietor’s part to make the figure go up. The agency does

January 13, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s retired employees, members of the Golden Age Historical Club, were treated to a bus tour of the plant premises as a New Year present. The company press service reports the club has been around for seven years now, welcoming as its members the plant’s former employees, who dedicated a big part of their life to the company. Despite their advanced age, the club members are still active and energetic and meet on a monthly basis. Government deputies, public figures, musicians, museum workers, legal professionals and other experts

January 13, 2016. The overall amount of past-due loan repayments doubled in the course of last year and amounted to 45bn RUR, Deputy Head of the Federal Service of Court Officers’ Sverdlovsk Region division Elena Sidorova announced at a recent press conference. ‘We handled 119,500 debt enforcement cases in 2015 all in all, which was 11%, or 10,000 cases more than in the year 2014, whereas the overall debt amount went up by two times. Our court officers are currently working on 45bn RUR worth of enforcement cases, with only 4bn RUR collected so far,’ Sidorova said. She explained Sberbank was

January 12, 2016. Inflation rate was registered at 14% in Sverdlovsk Region in December 2015 against a year earlier and at 0.5% against November 2015, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items grew 17.2% more expensive compared with December 2014 and 1.7% more expensive compared with November 2015; the price of strong drinks went up by 9% and 0%, respectively. Non-food items grew 0.3% more expensive compared with November 2015 and 14.3% more expensive compared with December 2014. The price of services dropped by 0.6% compared with November 2015 and rose by 10.9% compared with December 2014.

January 12, 2016. Saint Petersburg-based Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus made 299,500 Hyundai Solaris and KIA Rio automobiles last year, which was 3.2% less than one year earlier (237,000 cars), Avtostat reports. 14,200 cars got exported, mostly to Kazakhstan (10,300 units) as well as to Egypt and Lebanon (2,500 units).

January 12, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to consider a claim laid by Habberton Group Inc against Severnaya Kazna Insurance Company; the plaintiff demands to be paid $916.7m in compensation, the court reports. ‘The plaintiff asked for the acknowledgement and enforcement of the ruling pronounced by the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Marine Arbitration Committee on September 18, 2015. It was ruled that the insurance company would have to pay Habberton Group Inc $890m and $26.7m in legal fees. The plaintiff also asked for the enforcement order to be

January 12, 2016. The number of dissatisfied customers filing complaints about violation of their rights rose by 5% in Sverdlovsk Region last year. The local division of Rotrebnadzor (the consumer rights watchdog) reports 19,000 complaints were filed altogether. ‘Most of these have to do with infringement of consumers’ rights relating to sale of technically sophisticated goods as well as clothing, footwear, furniture, and other non-food items and to financial services and housing bills,’ the division says.

January 12, 2016. Volkswagen Group Rus announced on December 30, 2015 that 2,166 Volkswagen Caddys manufactured in 2014 and 2015 would haveto be called off, Avtostat reports. The problem lies in the faulty fastening of the in-vehicle network control unit. In the worst-case scenario, this could result in an unprogrammed engine start when a remote control button is pushed. A stick-driven car could thus get moving and cause an accident. The company’s authorized dealers are to inform the car owners via email or phone, asking them to take their automobiles to the nearest store to have it repaired.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 30, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s member enterprises are organizing office parties and children’s parties for their employees this week. New Year shows at all of the company’s clubs, special contests and chocolate presents are meant to create the holiday feeling for workers and their children, the company press service reports. This year, Santa is going to give 700 boxes of chocolates and toy monkeys to children of people working at Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant. As for the very young children, Santa and his granddaughter Snegurochka will see them in their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 30, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region proved to be a constituency with the third largest number of local borrowers, the National Credit History Bureau reports. The overall number of borrowers actually decreased by 11.2% over the eleven months of 2015 and dropped to 1.317m people by December 1 (compared with 1.483m on January 1). Moscow, predictably, hosts the greatest number of loan-takers (1.851 people, -11.3% on the start of the year), and Moscow Region (1.522m people, -11.5% on the start of the year) comes second. It is reported the average loan amount went up by 6.8%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 30, 2015. The average price of a square meter of an existing home grew 6% less expensive (in rubles) and 24.6% less expensive (in US dollars) on Yekaterinburg housing market this December compared with one year earlier, E1.RU and E1.Nedvizhimost report. A year ago, the average housing price came to 77,000 RUR ($1,380) per m2 on average. The figures reached their peak in February (78,000 RUR per m2) in ruble terms and in April in dollar terms ($1,500 per m2). By the end of the year, prices dropped to 72,000 RUR and $1,040 per m2 on average (down 6% and 25%,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 30, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities uncovered over 1,250 attempts at violation of entrepreneurs’ rights this year, their press service reports. Additionally, 177 protests were issued, 7 claims were placed with courts, and 310 reports were filed, resulting in 133 people facing disciplinary liability, 43 people facing administrative liability, and 42 people getting warrants against violating the law. The authorities also kept working with personal queries from businesspeople based in Sverdlovsk Region towns and cities: Aramil, Alapayevsk,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 30, 2015. This year, Yekaterinburg’s retail trade turnover rose by 12.5bn RUR, the city council’s press service reports. According to Mayor Alexander Yakob, the overall figure came to 720bn RUR in 2015 (compared with 707.5bn RUR in 2014). ‘Our retail trade figures keep growing from year to year. This year’s figures were actually record-setting, only Moscow and Saint Petersburg did better,’ Yakob said. He added the services sector was also growing noticeably.

UrBC, Moscow, December 29, 2015. Russia’s GDP dropped by 4% in November 2015 compared with January 2015 (by 3.8% in October 2015 compared with the start of the year), Prime refers to the Economic Development Ministry as stating. ‘The preliminary data we have for November indicate a downward economic trend. The country’s GDP declined by -.3% on the previous month, seasonal factors notwithstanding,’ the ministry says. It is reported all the economic indicators went down last month: the industrial production sector shrank by .6% after a short-lived slight growth period, the agricultural sector

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 29, 2015. Yekaterinburg residents decided not to try and save any money on natural or artificial New Year tree expenses this year. One of the city’s New Year tree bazaars reports their sales grew very good around New Year’s Eva. Russian regular and silver fir trees (60 cm and up) are the most popular choice. Locals mostly spend between 1,000 and 3,000 RUR per tree. In the meantime, the demand for artificial fir trees has been growing stably over the last few years. Novogod-shop.ru, the online service, reports customers have been buying increasingly more expensive

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 29, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region was not on the list of Russian federal constituencies with the best socioeconomic climate in 2014. The list was drawn up by the Russian Government for the purpose of subsidies distribution (5bn RUR) for next year. The Cabinet’s official website states the money has been distributed among twenty constituencies with the best socioeconomic performance figures. Tula Region, Arkhangelsk Region, and Leningrad Region were the top three.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 29, 2015.Head of ChTPZ Group Training Center Andrei Saltsev, Director of Pervouralsk Metallurgical School Elvira Korovina, and Director of Pervouralsk Lyceum 21 Lyudmila Demakova signed a trilateral cooperation agreement on educational programs for the Center’s prospective applicants/students, the Group’s press service reports. The goal is to improve the quality of educational services available in Pervouralsk and to ensure its cadre growth. First and foremost, the three parties will engage in joint training projects for school-leavers applying for Pervouralsk