Moscow press review for September 29, 2015
MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on September 29. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
President Vladimir Putin, addressing the UN General Assembly, called for the formation of a broad international coalition to combat terrorism. This could be part of a strategy aimed at lifting sanctions against Russia, one expert said. Other analysts said Putin gave a good, strong speech, but it is unlikely to be enough to restore Russia's former position in the world (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The Russian government, at a Monday meeting on raising the efficiency of state companies' spending, decided that allocation of money to them should be contingent on audits and performance assessments. It also approved moving all purchases by state companies to a limited number of electronic platforms. By one estimate, increasing the share of electronic trading by 1% would save the government about 7 billion rubles per year (Kommersant, p. 2; Vedomosti, p. 4).
Russia's Central Bank will hand over 90% of its 2015 profit to the government, 15 percentage points more than legally required. The federal budget could therefore get about 300 billion rubles, twice as much in 2014, as the Central Bank's profit has also grown. The Central Bank hopes this will be a temporary measure (Vedomosti, p. 4).
OIL & GAS
The Russian government has decided against a proposed increase in the resource tax on oil that would have raised an extra 600 billion rubles in revenue. The oil industry will share the burden of helping to balance the budget with others, possibly gas and metal companies. The government will consider reducing oil export duties more slowly than planned to generate an extra 200 billion rubles from the oil industry (Kommersant, p. 1; Vedomosti, p. 11).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
Russia's Deposit Insurance Agency might take a loan from the Central Bank in October. With ongoing payments to the depositors of failed banks, the Deposit Insurance Fund is probably in the red and payments to depositors are being made at the expense of agent banks. The fund could have been at negative 37.7 billion rubles by September (Vedomosti, p. 11).
Russia's Central Bank, which is steadily tightening requirements for the financial strength of banks and their owners, intends to close the last few remaining loopholes to circumvent its control. It will require banks to get its approval not only for the sale, but also for gifting stakes in banks of more than 10%. The scheme of gifting has not been widely used yet, but the regulator is being proactive, analysts said (Kommersant, p. 7).
Interview: Hikmet Ersek, President of Western Union (Vedomosti, p. 8).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Azov City, the first actually operating gambling zone in Russia, which the government had threatened to close, might be allowed to operate a while longer, until a new zone in Sochi is up and running. When it finally closes, investors in Azov City could get 8.6 billion rubles in compensation (Vedomosti, p. 10).
The new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will officially go on sale in Russia on October 9, just two weeks after the devices became available on the U.S. market. The acceleration of legal Apple shipments to Russia, as well as the high minimum price of the devices - about 57,000 rubles - have hit the gray market. Just a few hundred new iPhones were sold at Russian online stores over the weekend (Kommersant, p. 10).
Interview: Olga Zakharova, CEO of Gorky Culture and Amusement Park (Kommersant, p. 11).
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
The Moscow city budget's expenditures on the construction of the landmark Zaryadye park next to the Kremlin could double to 27 billion rubles. The dismantling of the stylobate structures of the former Rossiya hotel, on the site of which the park is being built, and construction of underground parking are costing the city dearly (Kommersant, p. 7).
Having lost the ability to negotiate the formation of joint ventures with Russian partners, foreign infrastructure companies have started bidding in Moscow tenders on their own. Turkey's Cengiz and Italy's Salini Impregilo are bidding for the right to build a road between Kaluzhskoye and Borovskoye highways. Cengiz has offered the best price - 22.84 billion rubles (Kommersant, p. 10).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
VTB Group has bought a stake in Telcrest, the company of Russian tycoons Yury Kovalchuk and Alexei Mordashov that holds a 25.3% stake in CTC Media. The state banking group is now thought to control about 8% of CTC Media stock. Mordashov, meanwhile increased his stake in Telcrest from about 13% to about 29%. U.S. sanctions against Telcrest are now likely to be lifted (Vedomosti, p. 10).
TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS
The shareholders of Transaero have not met the deadline for an offer for Aeroflot to buy out 75% plus one share in Russia's financially troubled second largest airline for 1 ruble. They could not get together the necessary amount of shares, partly because 25% of Transaero stock is still held as collateral by state bank VTB and creditors disagree on how to restructure the airline's debts, sources said (Kommersant, p. 1).