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The Regions This Week
May 25, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Eastern Europe
China warned Russian state-owned oil major Rosneft and Vietnam against joint extraction in the contested South China Sea, as Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu kang issued an unusually sharply worded statement. "We urge the relevant parties to respect China's sovereign rights, inter- ests and jurisdiction,” Kang said.
Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich missed his club’s victory in the FA final at the weekend as the UK authori- ties failed to renew his UK visa. The reasons for the delay are not clear but it comes amid discussions about a tougher stance on Russian money in the City of London.
Consumer confidence amongst Ukrainians im- proved in April compared to March, according to a regular study conducted by GfK Ukraine. The Con- sumer Confidence Index (CCI) equals 61.3 points, which is 3.7 points higher than the indicator in the previous month.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) kept its forecast for Russian GDP growth this year steady at 1.7% despite increased pressure from Western sanctions.
O1 Group of Russian businessman Boris Mints continues to struggle with its outstanding bonds, with the Moscow Exchange transferring the
bonds of O1 Group Finans issuer to default trad- ing mode, Vedomosti daily said. Earlier in May O1 could not fulfil the mandatory payout offer on its RUB14bn ($222mn) worth of bonds maturing in April 2027 after missing a coupon payment on the issue.
Foreign direct investments in Belarus totalled $3bn in January-March, or 84% of the total for- eign investments received, according to the Belstat state statistics agency. Foreign investors injected $3.6bn into the real sector of the Belarusian econ- omy (except for banks), according to official data. Investment vehicle of sanctioned Russian bil-
lionaire Viktor Vekselberg Renova Group received state help to repay over CHF1bn ($1bn) to Western banks such as JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, and UBS, Reuters said citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Russia's second-largest gas producer No-
vatek established its own transportation subsidi- ary, Sea Arctic Transport (MAT, Morskoy Arktich- esky Transport), to manage its fleet of tankers and icebreakers delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its major projects. Novatek, which financed and launched its first major LNG project Yamal despite Western sanctions, plans another Arc- tic-2 LNG project and has adopted an ambitious strategy for LNG growth through 2030.
Russian metals and energy major En+ of sanc- tioned billionaire Oleg Deripaska reported a twofold jump in net profit to $667mn for the first quarter of 2018. The profit was reported for the last quarter before the US Department of Treasury im- posed a new round of Russian sanctions on April 6.
Ukrainian leading telecoms company Ukrtelecom is going to connect remote settlements to the broad- band Internet access service within two years. The project could cover 8,000 villages where 6mn resi- dents are living and cost UAH6bn ($230mn).
The number of apartments on sale in Moscow’s secondary residential real estate market fell by almost a quarter (23.2%) over the last four years, according to Incom-Real Estate.
Magnit is vying for the top slot in the Russian retail sector with current market leader X5, by hiring two directors from X5’s leading format Py- aterochka Artem Smolensky and Tatyana Knyazeva. Last week the market was caught by surprise after the former CEO of X5’s Pyaterochka supermarket chain, Olga Naumova, was appointed executive director of Magnit, according to reports in Kom- mersant and Vedomosti.