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Eastern Europe
September 1, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
any measures could be sabotaged by currently deteriorating business climate in Russia. In
this respect the real goals of Oreshkin and the Ministry of Economic Development appear to be much broader.
On August 25 Bloomberg cited sources that claimed Oreshkin has emerged as "Putin's favourite" and has the president’s ear to try to
jump start the economy with notorious structural reforms that haven't taken off for decades.
“We are building the ministry of the future,” Oreshkin told Bloomberg by text message, adding that “a key task is to attract strong personalities and create the environment for them to develop”.
Fears of a banking crisis send Russia’s repo deal volume soaring
Ben Aris in Berlin
Fears that Russia is on the edge of yet another financial crisis have sent the volume of repo deals soaring in August as banks scramble to build up cash buffers just in case.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) acted to calm the sector on August 29 by announcing it would take control of the troubled commercial lender Financial Corporate Otkritie by taking over a 75% stake. Otkri- tie has been wobbling for about two months now.
The CBR has already expanded the amount it makes available for repo deals — a form of short- term borrowing where banks can pledge secu-
rities against pricy short-term loans from the central bank — at least once this month.
The mechanism allows banks to balance their cash positions at the end of the trading day and is not designed to be a form of emergency financing. But repo deals are one of the most immediate ways
a bank can get cash in times of crisis and they therefore become a de facto emergency loan facility.
Otkritie’s woes have unsettled the market. bne IntelliNews reported on August 11 that the bank was “in trouble” and the bank’s ATMs stopped working the next day. Market players told bne