Page 7 - bne_newspaper_May 5 2017

The Regions This Week
May 5, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Eastern Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made her first visit to Russia in two years on May 2, meet- ing President Vladimir Putin to discuss July’s G20 summit in Hamburg, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and other issues that continue to cloud bilateral and global relations, including claims of extensive cross-border cyber warfare by Russia.
US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on May 2 to dis- cuss issues including terrorism and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, as well as consider the venue for their first meeting in person. The Krem- lin press service discussed the idea of a personal Trump-Putin meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7-8.
Interpol has removed Ukraine’s ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, his son Oleksandr, and some high-level former officials from the agency’s wanted list. The move followed three years of lukewarm attempts by Kyiv to bring them to jus- tice for crimes allegedly committed during Yanu- kovych’s time in office from 2010 until his removal from power in 2014.
Russia’s manufacturing PMI was 50.8 in April,
down markedly from 52.4 in March, but above
the 50.0 no-change mark so still indicating slight expansion in the sector. April’s PMI figure was the lowest in the current nine-month period of posi- tive readings of the indicator.
In yet more moves by the Russian authorities
to control local operations of foreign IT compa- nies, communications watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked access to the Chinese messenger Wechat after it refused to comply with the recently adopt- ed law requiring that Russian citizens’ personal data have to be stored within the country. Mean- while, the foreign ministry said Russia has ques- tions for Facebook over the company’s failure to block fake accounts of the country’s foreign em- bassies.
Television in Russia continues to lose its hold on the public as people turn more to the internet for their news viewing, according to results of a sur- vey by the VTsIOM pollster. For the past two years, the proportion of Russians who rely on television for news has declined from 62% to 52%, the sur- vey showed. Predictably, younger people are more likely to turn to the internet for information, with 65% of people between 18 and 24 doing so.
The foreign currency and gold reserves of the Russian central bank went up by $1.1bn on the week ending April 28, reaching $401.1bn and keeping above the $400bn mark for the second consecutive week.
The Russian authorities have not yet decided on a possible extension of the agreement with Opec to cut oil production for the second half of the year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The official meeting between members of the cartel of oil-producing countries and non-members partic- ipating in the output reduction deal reached last November is to be held on May 25 in Vienna.
Fitch warned in a report on Belarus that the resumption of payments from the Russia-led Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) and the settlement of the energy dispute between Minsk and Moscow will reduce, but not completely eliminate, uncertainty over the ability of Belarus to fulfil its 2017 financing plan.
Fitch affirmed Ukraine’s ratings at ‘B-’ with a stable outlook. Ukraine’s ratings balance weak external liquidity, a high public debt burden and structural weaknesses, in terms of a weak bank- ing sector, institutional constraints and geopoliti- cal and political risks, against improved policy credibility and coherence, the sovereign’s near- term manageable debt repayment profile and a track record of multilateral support, Fitch said in a statement.