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Eastern Europe
July 5, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
JV between stoligarch Rotenberg scion and Rostec agency could supply all speed cameras in Russia
The joint venture of Igor Rotenberg and state technology agency RT-Invest Transportation Systems (RTITS) could become the only contractor for installing speeding cameras on Russian roads, RBC business daily reported on July 1 citing an internal government memo with the proposal.
RTITS is already operating the controversial Platon road tally system, and was suggested as having the necessary scope and scale to undertake the speed- ing cameras project. Other market participants, such as state integrated telecom major Rostelecom
reportedly oppose the initiative of granting quasi- monopoly status of the market to one company.
Igor Rotenberg is the son of Arcady Rotenberg, one of the businessmen who form president Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, and controlling the largest state procurement and building projects. Most recently Mostotrest of Arcady Rotenberg reportedly won a tender for the construction of M1 highway "Belarus" in the Moscow region worth RUB31bn ($492mn).
Read the full story here
Personal debt payments of Russians at highest level since 2014
Russia's statistics agency Rosstat has retroactively revised the income and spending data for Russian households since 2013, showing a growing debt burden, thinning savings, and the fact that most of household incomes have been channelled into current spending, RBC business portal wrote on July 1 citing the report.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, a heated policy debate has been ignited between the government and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) over
the means to support otherwise unimpressive economic growth so far in 2019 and amid bubbling consumer crediting.
In 2018 Russian paid 12.2% more in taxes and debt servicing, peaking as compared to maximum
2% growth 2015-2017 and exceeding the 10.25% growth seen in the crisis year of 2014.
At the same time savings declined by 1% in 2018, shrinking for the first time in six year, and continuing to contract by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2019. In 2018 households only saved 3.7% of their income, with only the 2014 result being worse at 2.7%.
The volume of credit payments soared by 29% in 2018, after declining in 2015-2017 and increasing by only 15.6% in 2014, reflecting the need to main- tain the quality of life through credit amid falling incomes. Real disposable incomes declined by 0.1% in 2018 and by 2.3% in the beginning of 2019.