Moscow press review for September 18, 2015
MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on September 18. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The Agriculture Ministry has drafted a new food security doctrine that determines the "economic and physical" availability of food products for Russia's population. It raises targets for the share of domestic production of sugar, vegetable oil and fish, and adds targets for the share of domestic fruit and vegetable production. The doctrine now also includes a point on developing resources for the sector, such as machinery, fertilizer and veterinary drugs (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The status of Ukraine's debt to Russia will be determined by the board of the IMF, which has not discussed it yet, a Fund spokesman said. Whether the $3 billion Eurobond debt, which matures in December, will have to be restructured depends on the IMF's decision. Ukraine's parliament passed a bill to restructure $18 billion in commercial foreign debt on Thursday (Vedomosti, p. 4).
OIL & GAS
Lukoil is prepared to implement projects to increase production at fields in Iran, which is preparing to reenter the world market. The Russian oil company is also interested in buying oil and oil products from Iran. Lukoil's president discussed cooperation on increasing oil recovery rates, restoring old fields and exploring new ones with Iran's deputy oil minister on Thursday (Vedomosti, p. 12).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
The U.S. Federal Reserve decided Thursday to leave interest rates unchanged, as most analysts expected, but indicated rates might be raised for the first time in seven years before the end of 2015. This would increase capital outflows from emerging markets and weaken their currencies. For Russia this effect would be less pronounced as the ruble has already weakened considerably due to sanctions and low oil prices, analysts said (Kommersant, p. 1; Vedomosti, p. 10).
Russia's Communications Ministry is launching a pilot project with leading banks, which will connect their customers to government services through an online bank. Banks will get simplified access to government information about citizens with the latter's consent. Analysts said this model is convenient for the public and banks, but carries certain risks, particularly theft of personal data (Kommersant, p. 1).
Despite criticism from the authorities, Qiwi is preparing to launch its own digital currency. The instant payment service has already registered several domains using the term bitruble, and is preparing to register a trademark. However, some similar-sounding domains are already held by cyber squatters. The company will now have to either buy out the web addresses or go to court, analysts said (Kommersant, p. 1).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Russia might bring back food cards to help those in need. Targeted aid to low-income households would stimulate demand for food products, growth in the retail and hospitality sectors, and development of the agriculture sector, the Industry and Trade Ministry argues in a new strategy. The ministry is also proposing to develop a program to provide free or discount meals at special cafes and cafeterias (Vedomosti, p. 11).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
Russia has proposed to the International Telecommunication Union, the body that approves international communication standards, to use frequencies in the bandwidths of 4440-4500, 4800-5000 and 5925-6425 MHz for mobile networks in the new 5G standard IMT-2020. The proposed frequencies differ from the proposals of other countries. Russia has an acute shortage of available frequencies, as most of the spectrum is allocated for military or joint use (Vedomosti, p. 10).
TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS
Freight One, which has been unexpectedly included in Ukraine's sanctions lists, can no longer operate in the country. Ukraine's national railway, UZ will terminate its contract with Russia's largest rail freight operator and its Ukrainian subsidiary, and Freight One's freight cars might even be nationalized. The sanctions have also created problems for UZ, which is responsible to shippers for delivering the freight in Freight One's railcars (Kommersant, p. 7).
Russian airlines hit by new Ukrainian sanctions continued to fly to and over the country as usual on Thursday. Market players do not know what to expect from the sanctions, with some anticipating a complete ban on flights and others only restrictions on transit. The Ukrainian authorities themselves do not know how the sanctions decree signed by the country's president on Wednesday will be implemented (Kommersant, p. 9).
AUTOMOTIVE & ENGINEERING
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced the formation of a taskforce to look into the installation and set-up of equipment at the Vostochny cosmodrome. The group is supposed to coordinate schedules for building the minimum launch facilities without which it will be impossible to launch a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket in December. Some work is 25 days behind schedule and there is no regular water or power supply (Kommersant, p. 1).
Kamaz, Russia's leading truck maker, said it might end this year with a net loss of 3.6 billion rubles on revenue of 97.7 billion rubles, despite a revival in sales and growth of exports. The company attributes this in part to the higher cost of components due to the weaker ruble. Kamaz expects truck sales to double in the second half compared to the first half, but still drop by a third for the year (Vedomosti, p. 11).