Moscow press review for May 22, 2013
MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on May 22. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
Russia's economy will not be able to grow by more than 2% for another ten years, and the authorities might seek a way out by increasing debt, as was the case in Greece, analysts at Renaissance Capital fear (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The State Duma on Tuesday finally moved to carry out President Vladimir Putin's election promise to introduce a luxury tax, though in a very watered down form. Instead of the promised separate tax on all personal luxury consumption, the Duma gave initial approval to amendments to raise the transport tax rate for automobiles costing more than 5 million rubles (Kommersant, p. 1).
The Kremlin is taking over control of issues concerning Russia's film industry, which was previously overseen by former Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov. President Vladimir Putin will meet with film industry leaders in Sochi on Friday (Vedomosti, p. 2).
The Russian government might decide to spend oil and gas revenues on road infrastructure rather than save them in the reserve fund. This would violate the spirit, if not the letter of the fiscal rule that limits spending of oil and gas revenue, economics said (Vedomosti, p. 4).
OIL & GAS
Russian gas giant Gazprom is promising to increase dividends by calculating them based on profit to International Financial Reporting Standards rather than Russian Accounting Standards, but only in two years. The government is prepared to agree (Vedomosti, p. 10).
The Russian government and Energy Ministry have taken Transneft's side in its dispute with Rosneft over financing of the expansion of pipelines to increase oil exports to China. The cost will not be included in the general tariff for oil companies, but a compromise has not been found yet (Kommersant, p. 11).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
Rosbank, whose chief executive Vladimir Golubkov has been accused of accepting bribes, is seeing investors wanting to dump its bonds. Bondholders tendered a record 60% of a Rosbank bond issue of 10 billion rubles in a buyback offer completed Monday (Kommersant, p. 1).
Russian borrowers will fail to repay more than 400 billion rubles in consumer loans to banks this year, which is more than during the financial crisis, Standard & Poor's warned. The growth of consumer lending in Russia will be accompanied by the deterioration of loan portfolio quality, the agency expects (Vedomosti, p. 11).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Legend No. 17, a film about Soviet hockey player Valery Kharlamov, has already raked in almost 900 million rubles at the box office to become the highest grossing live action Russian film in the past five years and third highest ever (Vedomosti, p. 10).
Interview: Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of Hennes & Mauritz (Vedomosti, p. 8).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
The founder and principal shareholder of Russian conglomerate Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov also has business interests in Europe and North America. His Redline Capital Management has acquired minority stakes in Canada's IMAX, German media group Constantin Medien, Portuguese cable operator ZON Multimedia and U.S. online auction house Paddle8.com (Kommersant, p. 9).
TRANSPORTATION
Moscow might get another airport by the end of 2014 - for budget airlines. UTair wants to base up to 20 Airbus 320s at the Yermolino airport in neighboring Kaluga Region, to which Aeroexpress train services will be launched from Moscow's Vnukovo (Vedomosti, p. 1).
AUTOMOTIVE & ENGINEERING
The development strategy for United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), which was discussed at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, will be a compromise. USC, which will be headed by Vladimir Shmakov of Uralvagonzavod, will get at least some major contracts for offshore projects, but it might have to compete with Russian and foreign shipbuilders (Kommersant, p. 1).
