According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit SROs for 31 to 90 days went down by 61.69% (from 495.91 million RUR to 189.961 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Vladimir Kritskiy and acting Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region’s Department of Internal Affairs Galina Karabonalova coordinated a briefing on the housing problems of law-enforcement officers. ‘A tender was held in July 2004 to decide who was going to put up the apartment block in Bazoviy Lane meant for our officers. The land allotment belongs to Yekaterinburg’s Department of Internal Affairs; as for the builder, Mayak Corporation was chosen. The developer promised to put up four apartment buildings with the total area of at least 52,000 square meters. 25% of

The volume of SKB-Bank’s net assets increased by 2 billion RUR over one month and came to 33.15 billion RUR on June 1, 2008 compared with only 31.11 billion RUR on May 1, 2008. The bank’s loan portfolio amounted to more than 23 billion RUR, thus doubling between June 2007 and June 2008. The bank had managed to attract 29 billion RUR in terms of deposits and investments by June 1, 2008, which is 3 billion RUR better than a month earlier. The figure includes 11.5 billion RUR worth of private individuals’ investments. SKB-Bank’s own funds come to more than 5 billion RUR at the moment, which is

Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (aka NTMK, part of Evraz Group) organized a series of celebrations dedicated to the 45th anniversary of Russia’s first LD plant. The events were attended by employees of over thirty metallurgical enterprises and research institutes based in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, and other Russian cities, as well as representatives of metallurgical and machine-building enterprises located in Ukraine, Austria, and Germany. The agenda of the festivities included a solemn meeting devoted to the launch of the steel-smelting converter – the second fully renovated converter out

Chelyabinsk-based SOT, a company dealing in production of pipeline bends and part of Rimera (ChTPZ Group’s O&G maintenance division), has been successfully audited by TUF International Rus for its compliance with the ISO 9001:2000 quality management requirements. The annual audit helps the enterprise to find quality management system’s improvement strategies. SOT keeps on working on the better quality of products and greater customer satisfaction. ‘Rimera pays a lot of attention to the quality of its produce, this is why all of its divisions have some special technical development

1,127 crediting organizations with a total of 3,940 subsidiaries have been registered within Russia by June 1, 2008, the Central Bank’s official website states. This figure signals an ongoing tendency for the number of banks to go down: there were 1,129 banks with 3,492 subsidiaries in Russia as recently as May 1, 2008. At the same time, while the number of banks is on the decrease, the volume of their authorized capital keeps rising. The figure reached 780 billion RUR on June 1, 2008 compared with 775 billion RUR in May 2008 and 773 billion RUR in April 2008. As for the distribution

Ural Airlines has recently received another A 320 airplane as part of the carrier’s five-year operational leasing agreement. Prior to arriving in Yekaterinburg, the aircraft was used by Air France and is now in the pink of condition. The plane will be used for operating Ural Airlines’ summertime flights as soon as on June 11, 2008, with the ‘maiden flight’ bound for Khojend, Tajikistan. Airbus will then be used for flying to Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk, Moscow, and the CIS. A 320 airplanes are often used for operating chartered flights as well, since the noise level is so low that

Chelyabinsk Region keeps working on the region’s socioeconomic development forecasts for 2008-2011. The issues related to drawing up the forecasts were discussed at the Governor’s meeting with the regional mayors on June 11, 2008. The forecasts are prepared in compliance with the federal and regional requirements and are based on the data provided by the executive authorities, municipal councils, and large enterprises. The region’s ongoing economic growth is one of the forecast’s most positive determinants. Chelyabinsk Region’s industrial production rose by 10.1% over the first five months of

Chelyabinsk Region, alongside with tall the other Russian Federation’s constituent entities, has to gradually switch from the licensing system to the self-regulatory organizations system in the building industry between July 1, 2008 and January 1, 2010. On June 11, 2008, a working group was set up in order to develop a single self-regulatory organization for the whole region’s building industry, First Deputy Governor Vladimir Dyatlov announced in the course of PROMASS (the Organization of Employers of Chelyabinsk Region)’s meeting. Some other points on the meeting’s agenda included a report

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to private individuals for 91 to 180 days went down by 44.46% (from 2.086 million RUR to 661,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

United Company RUSAL has successfully launched test production of its colloidal anode paste. The paste is a key component of a new project aimed at developing a unique and entirely environmentally harmless aluminum production technology. The project is expected to require a total of $25m worth of investments. The spokesperson for the company reports the main idea behind the project that is being implemented by UC RUSAL’s Engineering and Construction division is the creation of a perfect Soederberg reduction cell that would affect the environment as little as possible, use raw materials very

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for 1 to 3 years plummeted by 90.94% (from 27.6 million RUR to 2.5 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation (consisting of Yekaterinburg-based Uralmashzavod and Orsk-based ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co) is going to make a presentation on its oil rigs, pipes, and winches that the company is manufacturing at the moment. O&G enterprises from Russia and the near abroad were invited to the event. Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz, Eurasia, Gazpromneft, NOVATEK, TNK-BP, SSK, SGK, Belarusneft, Ukrgazdobycha, Kazmunaigaz, and Turkmengaz are expected to come. Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation intends to exhibit its engineering projects on the drilling

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