Page 8 - bne_newspaper_October_12_2018

The Regions This Week
October 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eastern Europe
Ukraine installed a 1MW solar power plant
in the contaminated area adjacent to the decommissioned nuclear power station in Chernobyl. The photovoltaic facility is comprised of 3,800 panels and is expected to produce enough energy to meet the power demand of 2,000 local apartments.
Russia's second-largest gas producer and global LNG market runner-up Novatek discovered
a new gas field, the Severo-Obskoye offshore Arctic gas field, which could become the resource base for the company's third LNG project. The field is estimated to have 330bn cubic metres of gas, Vedomosti daily said citing the deputy
chair of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson.
The IMF improved Russia's GDP growth outlook for 2019 by 0.3pp to 1.8%, while maintaining
the 2018 forecast at 1.7%, according to the latest update to the World Economic Outlook. At the same time Russia's medium-term growth is still expected to remain muted at about 1.2%, absent structural reforms.
Russia's finance ministry will cut the net domestic borrowing plan by RUB380bn ($5.7bn) in 2018, Interfax said citing the ministry's debt department head Konstantin Vishkovsky. Earlier in the year the finance ministry increased the net borrowings plan by RUB227bn to RUB1.04 trillion, but has now scaled it back to RUB564bn.
Raw materials dominated Ukraine’s agro- exports in 9M18, with finished goods still lagging. Ukraine exported grain worth $4.8bn in the first nine months of this year, but it still lags behind in producing and exporting processed and finished
agricultural products, according to the Ukrainian Food Export Board
In January-August Belarus increased the
export of merchandise and services by 18.3%
in comparison with the same period of last year to $27.4bn, said the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB).
The sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is to set up a regional fund together with Chinese counterparts worth CNY5bn ($721mn), the head of the fund Kirill Dmitriev told Tass, adding that the first transactions in national currencies are expected in early 2019.
Russian petrochemical major Sibur made
an offer to buy back up to $200mn of its only Eurobond in circulation, a $500mn bond, with the tender open until October 17. The company is expected to decide on an IPO soon, planning to raise $2bn-3bn based on a valuation of $20bn-$26bn.
Russians spent $5.19bn buying goods in
foreign online stores in the first half of the year, according to statistics from the central bank. This is 24% higher than in January-June last year, with the peak of expenses coming the first quarter, when Russians made overseas online purchases reaching $2.72bn.
Used car imports to Ukraine soared by 87%
in 9M18. The number of used cars imported into Ukraine was up over the first nine months of this year to a total of 72,000 vehicles, UNIAN reported. Volkswagen cars have proven to be the most popular brand.
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