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On 13 November 2015, the State Duma will consider in the first reading the draft federal budget which is being formed in quite complicated economic conditions for Russia – the economic crisis, sanctions and depreciation of prices on energy commodities– which affect formation of the revenue side of the budget.

On 30 October 2015, the Central Bank of Russia made a decision to leave unchanged both the key rate and rates on its operations related to provision and absorption of liquidity.

On 23 October 2015, the Government of the Russian Federation introduced a draft law on the 2016 Budget to the State Duma. The budget was drawn proceeding fr om the forecast of the oil price being equal to $50 a barrel and the rate of inflation and GDP growth amounting to 6.3% and 1.2%, respectively.

On 5 October 2015, negotiations were over on establishment of the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TTP) which numbers 12 states of the Pacific Region, including the world’s largest economies, such as the US, Canada, Japan and Australia.

Data released by Rosstat related to industrial statistics (for August) demonstrate a return of stagnation to negative trend – industrial output in the Russian Federation in January-August down 3.2%, and in August down 4.3% in annual terms. At the same time, compared to July 2015, industrial growth amounted to 0.2%.

On 10 September, the International Budget Partnership (IBP) released the Open Budget Survey 2015, the fifth of its kind since 2006.

After eighteen months break, the Russian Ministry of Defense published the official departmental statistics for the years 2014 and 2015 regarding the number of military retirees, provisioned in paragraph 7.1 of the federal statistical work plan. The information was published in the “Open Data” section on the official web site.

Ministry of Economic Development drafted a government resolution aimed at increasing the use of innovations by the state companies.

The quality of state government and efficiency of budget expenses are becoming dominant domestic factors of the budget system stability, its ability to adjust to risks related to falling prices on hydrocarbons and economic growth slowdown.

Today both Russian legal and individuals may open accounts (deposits) with foreign banks outside the Russian Federation.

Last week the Bank of Russia took two important decisions regarding the monetary policy: first, from 28 July onward purchases of foreign currency to replenish international reserves were halted, and, second, from 3 August the key rage was reduced by 0.5 p.p. from 11.50 to 11.00 per cent per annum.

At the end of June 2015, the Russian government approved "Main Directions of the Budgetary Policy for 2016 and for the Planned Period of 2017 and 2019" submitted by the Ministry of Finance.

In early 2015, the volume of the corporate loan market contracted markedly. For January-May 2015, banks provided to legal entities new loans in the volume of Rb 11.9 trillion down 17.5% against January-May 2014 (Rb 14.4 trillion).

According to the data released by the Rosstat, contraction of Russian industrial output in terms of year on year has speeded up from 0.4% in Q1 2015 to 4.9% in Q2 2015. Accelerated contraction was mainly due to the sectors which produce capital goods (mechanical engineering and construction materials) as well as long-term consumer goods.

A draft of the Main Directions of the budget policy for 2015 and the planned period 2017-2018 is uploaded on the Ministry of Finance of Russia on 1 July. It was discussed and approved at the meeting of the government on 25 June.

On 29 June – 1 July 2015, Civil BRICS Forum was held in Moscow. Forum became the first innovation project of the kind on BRICS platform implemented within BRICS summit in 2015.