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The Regions This Week
October 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eastern Europe
Thanks to billions of dollars spent in bank bail- outs Russia’s aggregate banking sector profits went negative for the first time in years. The total net profit of Russian banking sector in Jan- uary-September declined to RUB675bn ($11.7bn) from RUB997bn seen in January-August, the Cen- tral Bank of Russia (CBR) said on October 11. That is a fall of minus RUB322bn m/m.
The Russian presidential administration plans to use encrypted and anonymous Telegram chan- nels to collect and monitor voter sentiment in the regions, RBC daily reported citing the draft of the project developed by a third-party contractor.
Russia’s balance of payments for the third quar- ter of 2017 is back in the black, but only just, with a surplus of $1.2bn, which is $0.8bn higher than in the third quarter of 2016. The CA was supported by an improvement in trade and invest- ment income balances, while the services deficit remains a drag.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed into law a pension reform package earlier green- lighted by the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The bill was one of several crucial reforms necessary for further allocations of funding under the $17.5bn funding programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2015.
The Russian-made mobile ride-hailing applica- tion Maxim has been quietly launched in Iran according to a social media post that appeared on October 8. The application, which runs on both iOS and Android, was previously only available in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). No mention of the launch has ap- peared on the Maxim website but Iran is listed as a country with the service.
Billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Victor Vek- selberg sold 0.7% and 2.3% of Russian alumini- um major Rusal on the open market. The total 3% stake in Rusal was sold for $315mn, with a 7.5%
discount to the market price; the shares were valued at $341mn in Hong Kong.
Belarus’ foreign exchange reserves increased by $273mn or 3.9% m/m to $7.267bn in Septem- ber, following a 4.9 m/m growth in August. The re- sult was attributed to September's disbursement of a $700mn loan by the Russian government, as well as revenues from the collection of export du- ties on oil products.
Russian Miner Coin (RMC) raised the equivalent of $43mn through an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in late September to create a “next-gen ecosystem for miners and investors,” challenging China in this field. The ICO sets a new record in the East- ern European ICO scene; however, it is well below the company’s initial $100mn target.
One of Russia's largest shoes producers and retailers Obuv Rossii (Shoes of Russia) set the price range for its IPO where it hopes to raise up to RUB7.9bn ($136mn) on the Moscow stock exchange.
In September, Ukraine’s consumer prices went up by 2% m/m driven by the growth of food prices and seasonal factors. The major driver of growth was the sharp decline in the supply of eggs to the domestic market.
The sale of holiday packages and air tickets is dominating Russian online shopping IN 2017. Travel accounted for some $10bn of online sales in 2016, compared with $16bn for physical goods (cross-border sales included).
Freight rates for customers of Ukraine’s state- owned railway monopoly Ukrzaliznytsia could be hiked by 15%, the monopoly's media of-
fice said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said in September that freight railway rates should be acceptable for business, while also enabling Ukrzaliznytsia to modernise its infrastructure.