Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 24)

Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:44 am

Russia imposes taxes on US goods

Russia announced retaliatory measures in response to the U.S. move to impose tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said a statement yesterday that Moscow has decided to apply retaliatory measures in line with the World Trade Organization’s rules to compensate for damage incurred by the U.S. tariffs.

Oreshkin said that additional tariffs will be applied to a range of U.S. imports, but he declined to immediately name them, saying his ministry will release the list in the coming days.

He added that the tariffs will be applied to the U.S. goods that have domestic equivalents to avoid hurting the national economy.

Oreshkin later told reporters that tariffs may apply to road construction equipment and some other items, but will not target medicines, according to Russian news agencies.

The European Union, India, China and Russia all have applied to the WTO to challenge the tariffs that took effect March 23. Washington argued they were for national security reasons.

Source: AP

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking- ... 0620&sid=2
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:26 am

One of Trump’s two ‘currency manipulators’ is still at it

MOSCOW: Donald Trump isn’t exactly getting his way with Russia since accusing it in April, alongside China, of “playing the currency devaluation game.”

Thanks to a fiscal mechanism in effect since 2017, a revenue windfall from oil and gas is spent on purchasing foreign currency in the domestic market and channeled into a sovereign fund when Russia’s Urals export blend is above $40 a barrel.

Without this budget rule, the ruble would trade at about 50 versus the dollar at current oil prices, or almost 30 percent stronger than its present value, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

Since the U.S. president’s tweet in April singled out Russia and China for gaming their currencies, the ruble is down about 4 percent against the dollar, despite a rally of more than 2 percent in oil during the period.

In emerging markets, only Argentina’s peso, the Turkish lira and the Brazilian real have had a worse year than the Russian currency, which is down over 9 percent so far in 2018.

Unlike other countries that have suffered currency declines, Russia’s approach has won praise from rating companies and the International Monetary Fund.

It also accomplished the feat without compromising the credibility of the central bank, which has allowed the ruble to trade freely since late 2014.

After Trump’s tweet, a top official at the Bank of Russia said authorities are letting the market determine the exchange rate and have no intention of weakening the ruble.

Siluanov, who was promoted to an additional role of first deputy prime minister after President Vladimir Putin’s re-election in March, didn’t sound apologetic about the consequences of the budget rule for the exchange rate.

Asked in Moscow on Wednesday about possible adjustments to the mechanism depending on changes in oil, Siluanov said the policy has served Russia well, making the ruble more predictable.

It also keeps the Russian currency from depreciating sharply if oil prices fall, according to Siluanov. Brent crude slipped close to $73 a barrel on Thursday and the ruble traded little changed near 63.7 against the dollar in Moscow. When oil was near the same level in November 2014, the ruble was at just around 50 versus the U.S. currency.

“We prepared this budget rule together with the central bank,” Siluanov said. The goal is “to ensure predictability in business activity from fluctuations in the exchange rate.”

Source: Bloomberg

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... dYeVQqu.99
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:29 am

Russia Is Defying Expectations

Russian Airports Could Be Biggest Beneficiaries of Hosting World Cup

Hosting the World Cup has set Russia back an estimated $14 billion—again, a record amount for the competition.

Back in April, tournament organizers predicted that, as a result of increased tourism and large-scale spending on infrastructure, the competition would add nearly $31 billion to Russia’s economy in the 10 years between 2013 and 2023. (FIFA selected Russia as the host nation in 2010.)

Analysts with Moody’s Investors Service were slightly less upbeat, writing that they see “very limited economic impact at the national level.”

Having emerged last year from a two-year recession that was triggered by the collapse in oil prices and imposition of sanctions following its annexation of Crimea, the country is now in full-on recovery mode.

In a note to investors last week, Capital Economics senior emerging markets economist William Jackson says that GDP growth in May picked up to more than 2 percent year-over-year, up from 1.3 percent in the first quarter.

Most of the changes, according to Jackson, came in manufacturing, which he estimates to be growing by more than 5 percent year-over-year, compared with only 1 percent previously.

Once almost entirely reliant on oil exports, the government of the world’s leading oil producer has lowered the structure of exports from 70 percent energy in 2013 to 59 percent last year, according to the World Bank.

Today, the budget is back in surplus, and government debt stands at a remarkable 33 percent of GDP, the lowest among G20 nations.

Key inflation is currently running at a record low of 2.4 percent year-over-year, well below the Central Bank of Russia’s (CBR) target of 4 percent. Food inflation, in particular, is near zero percent.

Unemployment continues to decline. In May it fell to 4.7 percent, a record low since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Because of low inflation and a near-full employment jobs market, real wages are expanding healthily across all sectors. This is helping to drive stronger private consumption and investment. In May, retail sales grew 2.4 percent compared to the same month last year.

Government Policy Supportive of Future Growth

The Russian government is currently enacting or considering policy that should help sustain the economy’s recovery. For one, it recently moved to raise the retirement age to reduce the cost to the state budget on an aging population, the Financial Times reports. (The median age in Russia is nearly 40, compared to around 30 for the entire world.) The pension age for men will increase from 60 years to 65 years in 2028, while for women it will increase from 55 years to 63 years in 2034.

The reform could help the government save an estimated $27.3 billion a year, according to a Russian think tank.

The government is also reportedly working on a plan to invest more in infrastructure and reduce “unnecessary regulation that is holding back private investment.” That’s according to Morgan Stanley’s Clemens Grafe, who adds that plans for “national projects” will be drawn up by October “that should help Russia to become one of the five largest economies in the world.”

Time to Consider Investing in Moscow?

Some might consider that fanciful thinking, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Russia is an attractive place to invest right now, especially compared to the U.S. market.

Besides an economy in recovery, consider the following: Whereas the S&P 500 Index is up a little more than 13 percent for the 12-month period, the MOEX Russia Index has seen gains closer to 22 percent. That comes with an appealing 6.46 percent dividend yield, compared to 1.94 percent for U.S. stocks.

The price is right too. Russia trades at an inexpensive 6.39 times earnings, the U.S. at 21.08 times earnings, according to Bloomberg data.

Source: US Global Investors

http://www.usfunds.com/investor-library ... zGHMqczaM-
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:43 am

Russia Falls Off U.S. List of Major Holders of Treasuries

Russia is no longer listed among the major foreign holders of U.S. government securities, according to a report released in Washington.

Once among the top 10 foreign owners of Treasuries, the country’s holdings of U.S. bills, notes and bonds in May fell to $14.9 billion, below the $30 billion threshold for inclusion on the Treasury Department’s monthly report of major holders.

The list Treasury released on Tuesday included 33 specific countries -- from the biggest holder China to the smallest Chile -- but Russia was no longer listed among them.

In April, Russia’s holdings of Treasuries plunged to $48.7 billion from $96.1 billion, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg.

Asked about Russia’s absence, a U.S. Treasury spokesman said the Treasury market is the deepest and most liquid in the world, and demand remains robust. He added that the department doesn’t comment on individual investors or investments.

Source: Bloomberg

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-f ... 07708.html
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Mon Jul 30, 2018 7:50 am

Treasury data shows Russian holdings of US debt plunged 84% since March, but here's what it really means

Russian holdings of Treasury securities declined 84 percent between March and May, falling to $14.9 billion from $96.1 billion in just two months.

Russia's sell-off of U.S. debt in May occurred around the same time the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose to its highest level since 2011.

"If I had to wager, I would bet that this is part sanctions and part portfolio adjustment and little to do with a real market move," said Raymond James's Kevin Giddis.

by Thomas Franck

Source: CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/29/treasur ... KW,1O46K,1
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:55 am

Trump administration slaps more sanctions on Russia after Skripal poisonings

By Eli Watkins and Nicole Gaouette

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US had made this decision on Monday, and accused Russia of violating international law.

The statement anticipated the sanctions would go into effect around Aug. 22 in line with the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.

The first set of sanctions targets certain items the US exports to Russia that could have military uses -- so-called dual use technologies.

A second tranche would target Russian exports to the US and theoretically could include flights by the state airline Aeroflot as well as a downgrade of diplomatic relations.


Source: CNN

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/08/poli ... index.html
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:03 am

It Begins: Russia Officially Announces ‘Time Has Come…To Get Rid of the Dollar’

In a retaliatory move to the growing list of sanctions placed on Russia by the U.S., the country has announced it will "get rid of the dollar."

By Matt Agorist

Over 60 percent of global reserves and 80 percent of global payments are currently denominated in U.S. dollars,

This year, the Russian government has also drastically reduced their holdings of United States Treasury bonds, with Russian ownership of U.S. bonds declining from $96.1 billion in March to $48.7 billion in April—and then further reducing their holdings to just $14.9 billion in May; an 11-year low.

Russia has been buying large amounts of gold during its gradual sell-off of U.S. Treasury bonds, and it recently overtook China as the world’s biggest holder of gold with $80.5 billion worth.


Source: Free Thought Project

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/russi ... llar-gold/
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby winston » Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:04 am

Russia Is Dumping U.S. Dollars to Hoard Gold

By Andrey Biryukov , Rupert Rowling , and Yuliya Fedorinova

Renaissance Capital says Russia may start to import gold
Gold buying last year exceeded mine supply for the first time

Within the span of a decade, the country quadrupled its bullion reserves, and 2018 marked the most ambitious year yet. And the pace is keeping up so far this year.

Data from the central bank show that holdings rose by 1 million ounces in February, the most since November.


Source: Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... mbergdaily
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby behappyalways » Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:50 pm

An exclusive look inside Russia's Arctic military base
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/04/euro ... index.html
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Re: Russia 03 (Oct 15 - Dec 18)

Postby behappyalways » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:19 pm

2019.08.17【文茜世界周報】俄「核動力發動機」 爆炸 北極最機密試驗場曝光
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3q1eqB ... AU&index=9
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