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The Regions This Week
July 26, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Eastern Europe
Russian state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft set the compensation for oil companies that sent their crude through the contaminated Druzhba pipeline at $15 per barrel. The contaminated
oil that damaged the equipment of European refineries has been pumped back to Russia from the Belarusian part of the pipeline and could be dealt with by the domestic downstream sector.
Russia and Turkey are in talks on the possibility of jointly manufacturing some components of Russia’s S-400 missile defence system in Turkey, TASS news agency cited Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia’s Rostec state conglomerate, as saying. Turkey started receiving deliveries of Russian S-400 systems earlier this month, prompting the US to kick the Nato member country out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme.
Ukraine is going to resume talks with the IMF
on a new programme in September, Andriy Gerus, the presidential representative in the nation's government, told news agency Interfax. The updated macro-forecast of the National Bank of Ukraine assumes the country will receive $2bn from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility that the authorities are going to sign in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Shoe manufacturer and retailer Obuv Rossii (Shoes of Russia) increased its revenues by 26% y/y in 2Q19, accelerating versus 12% y/y in 1Q19. The company's like-for-like (LfL) sales posted
a 1.2% y/y gain, supported by 3.8% growth in the average ticket that offset a 2.6% decline in LfL number of tickets.
The Belarusian economy grew by 0.9% y/y in January-June following a 1% y/y growth in January-May, according to national statistics agency Belstat. In April, the IMF revised downward its forecast for economic growth in Belarus in 2019 from 3.1% y/y to 1.8% y/y.
Russia's state-owned bank VEB accused the Ukrainian authorities of "expropriation" of its local subsidiary, Prominvestbank, via "an illegal auction”. "Ukraine has chosen to fully deprive VEB of its ownership of Prominvestbank's shares," VEB's senior vice president for legal affairs Igor Krasnov said.
Out of 1,155 registered refuse landfills in Russia, only 48% fully comply with the sector legislation, Vedomosti daily reported citing a study for the RosPrirodNadzor watchdog. The issue
of waste management and recycling occupied a large slice of the recent annual phone-in held by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia indicated it may be willing to process trade with Iran through the EU’s “Instex” payment mechanism devised to protect companies that wish to continue trading with the Islamic Republic from US secondary sanctions. However, it has called on Brussels to expand the mechanism to cover oil exports, according to the Financial Times.
Russia’s Region investment company will recapitalise and clean up the Budushee non- state pension fund (NPF) in the next five years, Reuters reported citing the head of Region's board, Sergei Menzhisnky. "This asset can become a quality asset, and Region is ready to take responsibility for this NPF," Mezhinsky was quoted as saying.
Indebted Russian metals and mining major Mechel has proposed to its creditor banks that they extend its debt coverage from 2020-2024 to 2024-2026, Interfax reported citing Anatoly Popov, the deputy head of Sberbank, one of Mechel's largest creditors. Mechel had intended to complete its debt restructuring before the end of the year.