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The Regions This Week
October 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Eastern Europe
Russians are healthier and better educated than their per capita income would suggest, the World Bank found in a survey. The education and health of Russians born in 2017 will be comparable to their peers in counties with high standards of life by the time they come of age at 18 years old, the World Bank's Human Capital Index (HCI) shows.
Trade turnover between Russia and Syria should reach $1bn by 2021, the co-chairman of the Yalta International Economic Forum said. In 2017, the turnover between Syria and Russia was about $380mn. In the first eight months of 2018 it reached $276mn.
Ukraine’s merchandise trade deficit shrank 40% m/m to $848mn in September (from $1,419mn in July), the nation's state statistics service Ukrstat stated in a preliminary report.
Russia's state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) could double its loan portfolio from the current RUB3 trillion ($46bn) in the next five years, the newly appointed head of the bank Igor Shuvalov told President Vladimir Putin. VEB, which was on the brink of default
in 2015-2016, overburdened by loans issued for Sochi Olympics construction and hit by sanctions, has been slated by the Kremlin to become one
of the main hubs of an infrastructure spending drive after the appointment of Shuvalov.
The Greenhouse Group plans to build 300 hectares of high-tech greenhouses in the Russian Far East district, producing tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers, Vedomosti daily said. Greenhouse Group is owned by Arkady Abramovich, thought to be the son of London- based billionaire Roman Abramovich.
The first nuclear icebreaker ship Leader will cost up to RUB98.6bn ($15bn), not accounting for possible contingencies, Kommersant daily report- ed, citing a report by the Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom. The Northern Sea Route, one
of Russia's priority transportation infrastructure projects, depends on icebreakers clearing a path- way through Arctic ice around the top of Russia.
With GDP per capita in current prices in US dollar terms at $2,964.193 in 2018 Ukraine is Europe’s poorest country, according to October's update of the World Economic Outlook published by the IMF. Ukraine is behind Moldova ($3,226.717), Belarus ($6,020.043) and Russia ($10,950.492).
The share of medical services that have not been officially paid for and are received through bribing doctors and healthcare providers — "black" medical services – increased by 6.6% in Russia in 2017, reaching RUB179bn ($2.7bn) or a 7.7% share of the total medical services market.
Russian internet major Mail.ru Group invested in farm-to-table delivery service Foodza for small and medium-sized farms together with the head of online clothing store KupiVIP Vladimir Holyaznikov and his partners, Holyaznikov
told Vedomosti daily. Restaurant food delivery was one of the main Mail.ru investments with the Delivery Club, but will soon face competition.
In 2025 the share of renewable energy sources in Russia's energy mix will amount to 1% or 11.3bn kWh, lagging far behind the official government's target 4.5%, Vedomosti daily said citing a presentation by Vygon Consulting. The government's plan is to get 4.5% of all generation from renewable sources by 2024, which would require an additional 25GW of renewable generation capacity.
The Russian government may establish a single supplier of imported medicine and pharmaceu- tical products, Vedomosti daily reported citing internal memos between presidential aide Andrei Belousov and the Ministry of Healthcare. The Rus- sian constitution guarantees citizens free medical services and the state procurement of medicine is a huge business.