According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to profit-making NGOs for 181 days to 1 year went down 7.97% (from 369.44 million RUR to 339.997 million RUR) in January-March 2007. Besides, it was decided at the BOD meeting that the Board would suggest that the shareholders agree to the bank’s merger with Investbank and elaborate the details related to changes in the merger agreement and reorganization issues in the course of the annual general meeting.

Yekaterinburg’s leading travel agents announced at a press conference on May 18, 2005 that Turkey and Egypt were going to remain the most popular foreign destinations throughout the new tourist season. They also said they were getting more and more tourists wishing to spend a holiday abroad; for instance, the influx of travelers going to Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and Cyprus doubled last year against 2005.

Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was promoted from Russia’s 62nd to Russia’s 60th largest bank (in terms of assets) within Interfax-100’s ranking list. There were eight banks operating in Ural Federal District on this list altogether. ‘The bank’s assets rose by 7.3% in January-March 2007 and reached the point of 28,249.1 million RUR; this stable success proves that the bank is both quite dependable and keeps developing impressively,’ the bank’s press officer reports.

‘Our stock market kept going down last week because of inflation risks and growth of global interest rates, which made most of the world’s markets less attractive in terms of investments,’ says SKB-Bank’s trader Alexander Sterkhov. ‘RTS index reached 1,844.7 points at the close of business on May 17, 2007, which is 2.5% lower than at the beginning of the week. According to the Minister of Finances Alexei Kudrin, after VTB went through with the IPO, the government’s share in the bank’s stock amounted to 78%. It was also announced that 35% of shares had been offered on Russian markets and 65%

Regional law-enforcement agencies disclosed more gerrymandering behind the insolvency of Bogdanovich Porcelain Works while investigating the fraud-related case of the plant’s financial director. CEOs of two Yekaterinburg-based firms, for example, were found to have bribed the person responsible for property assessment in order to have fictitious assessment reports drawn up for them. Later on, this made it possible for the plant’s financial director to buy tons of scrap metal in the guise of top-of-the-range equipment (the damage done to the company was estimated at 23 million RUR).

The proceeds of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (part of Evraz Group) increased by 79.6% in the first quarter of 2007 compared to January-March 2006, amounting to 1,676 million RUR. This is 13% better than in the last quarter of 2006, the spokesperson for Evraz group says. The company’s net profit came to 366 million RUR, which is 25.8% better than in October-December 2006, its gross profit came to 708 million RUR, which is 204.6% better than a year earlier. Sales revenues went up by 502.1% compared to a year earlier, reaching 597 million RUR.

Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution bodies report the Ministry of Finances has been violating budgetary regulations while collecting money for the regional budget. The Ministry, it turned out, sometimes failed to place all the papers regarding cases of inappropriate practices of spending budget money with the public prosecution authorities. In addition, reports on administrative offenses were occasionally delayed, which meant some of the offenders were able to get away with their crimes due to end of limitation period. Minister Maria Serova received a warning whereupon she asked department

The foreign trade turnover of Nizhniy Tagil customs came to $255.5 million in April 2007, which exceeds the figures for April 2006 by 32.9%. 77.3% of all goods (total cost $197.6 million) were exported to far abroad, 22.7% of goods (total cost $57.9 million) were exported to the NIS. The customs handled $28.2 million worth of imported goods (this comes to 11% of the area’s foreign trade turnover) and $227.3 million worth of exported goods (89% of the area’s foreign trade turnover). 90.9% and 22% more goods were exported to the NIS and far abroad in April 2007 compared to a year earlier; for

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of investments placed by nongovernmental financial institutions with Uralfinprombank for 91 to 180 days went down 100% (from 1.5 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

Euro-Asian law congress took place in Yekaterinburg’s World Trade Center at 44 Kuibyshev St. on May 17-18, 2007. The congress (known as Legal Integration of the Euro-Asian Region in the Conditions of Globalization) was backed by Olips and organized by the Association of Russian Lawyers with the help of Ural State Law Academy. The event was attended by Chairman of Russia’s Audit Chamber Sergey Stepashin, Counselor to the President and co-chairman of the Association of Russian Lawyers Veniamin Yakovlev, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Petr

The Economic Crimes Division of Sverdlovsk Region Department of Internal Affairs arrested head of Ural Investment and Building Company Ltd. Vyacheslav Borisov, who is now held in custody in investigatory isolation ward 1 of Yekaterinburg. Ural Investment and Building Company Ltd. was put on the dishonest builders list by the city council; Mr. Borisov has been charged with large-scale fraud and will have to undergo a criminal trial.

Net profit of Kachkanar Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (aka Vanadium, part of Evraz Group) went up by 118.2% in January-March 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006 and amounted to 2,293 million RUR, the spokesperson for Evraz Group reports. The company’s revenues reached 5,215 million RUR, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier and for the previous quarter (October-December 2006) by 79.3% and 5.9%, respectively. Vanadium’s gross profit came to 3,325 million RUR (which is 35.9% better than in the first quarter of 2006 and .6% better than in the last quarter of 2006). The

Yekaterinburg municipal Duma budget and economic policies committee evaluated the report on Yekaterinburg’s socio-economic development in 2006 drawn up by the city council. The committee states the municipal retail trade turnover went up 19% last year due to an improved paying capacity of the city dwellers. The average salary rose by over 16% and amounted to 13,600 RUR. The committee is planning to discuss the report in a more detail at the Duma meeting on June 5, 2007.

Sverdlovsk Region’s budget received 48.7% more in terms of profit tax, 31.1% more in terms of personal income tax, 41.1% more in terms of aggregate profit, 72% more in terms of property tax, 15.5% more in terms of fees imposed for using natural resources, and 95% more in terms of state dues in January-April 2007 compared to January-April 2006. Excise duty payments and debt recovery payments went down by 72.1% and 34.4%, respectively. These data were published in the report on the regional budget’s tax revenues in the first quarter of 2007 by the regional Ministry for Economics and Labor.

According to the Bank of Russia, natural persons and sole traders owe more than 2.921 trillion RUR to Russian banks (as of April 1, 2007). Most loan payments come from the Central Federal District (over 903 million RUR), the Volga Region (527,668,512 RUR), and Ural Federal District (361.356 million RUR). According to the Central Bank of Russia, most of these payments are related to ruble rather than foreign currency loans; the respective sums come to 2,000,378,821,000 RUR and 542,658,000 RUR. As regards Ural Federal District, Sverdlovsk Region-based debtors owe regional banks 108,932,000 RUR,

The average wage of a Sverdlovsk Region-based metallurgist went up by 19% last year compared to 2005 and reached more than 14,000 RUR; this is 24% better than the average regional salary, Sverdlovsk Region Union of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises reports. The total amount of social welfare expenses in the field (including the wage fund and financing the collective agreements liabilities and 2 billion RUR spend on healthcare) rose by 18 billion RUR and amounted to nearly 38 billion RUR.

Consumers owe more than 249.12 million RUR to IES Multiutilities; the enterprise has failed to collect the debts out of court, so the local courts are processing about 2,264 claims laid by the company against its debtors at the moment. All in all, there were 3,234 claims against the company’s clients worth 246,975,000 RUR altogether in the first quarter of 2007; the claims largely had to do with unpaid housing bills.

Ural farmers have sown 341,700 hectares of land so far, which comes to 8.1% of the planned area. In addition, 262,600 hectares were sown with spring crops and leguminous plants, 987,300 hectares were sown with corn; this is 309,000 hectares better than a year earlier. This year, the sowing season started a little earlier in most Russian regions compared to 2006. According to the Federal Statistics Service, the country’s farmers sowed 7.6 million hectares as of May 1, 2007, including 4.7 million hectares of crops. 20% more spring crops (96% of which were sown in the Central, Volga, and South

Sverdlovsk Region Union of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises held an annual meeting where the regional metallurgical enterprises were announced to have increased their sales by one-third last year; the figure reached over 400 billion RUR. This rise in sales was experienced by almost all metallurgical companies in the region.

According to Yekaterinburg Commodities Market Committee, six new shopping malls and trade and entertainment centers will be put up in Yekaterinburg in 2007. These will include 15,000-square-meter Gulliver furniture store at 38e Sibirskiy Tract, 42,000-square-meter Megapolis trade and entertainment center in the south of Yekaterinburg, and Rock-n-Mall trade and entertainment center at 2 Sibirskiy Tract-2 (a relief road) whose area will come to 62,000 square meters. In addition, a nine-storey trade and office building is to be constructed at Malyshev-Voyevodin St. by TEN Ltd., and a