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At the meeting in Durban, South Africa, the leaders of five developing countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Republic of South Africa – declared about their decision to establish the New Bank for Development (NBD) whose goal would consist in financing of infrastructure projects of developing economies.

The mode of new sanctions against Russia introduced this week by the US Treasury has a potential to produce a far more negative effect on the Russian economy as compared to those sanctions used by western partners before.

Both the estimate of the balance of payments in H1 2014 and the updated data for Q1 2014 permit to make the following conclusions as regards the state of financial operations of Russian residents with the outside world in 2014.

It was decided at a meeting held on June 18 by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to ease the draft law on Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFCs). According to Kommersant newspaper, the Ministry of Finance prepared a letter to the Russian Government, prescribing new rules for CFCs which consider the requests of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.

The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia has recently announced that economic growth rates have accelerated fr om 0.9% to 1.2% on an annualized basis.

Federal Law of June 28, 2014 No. 201-FZ On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On The Federal Budget for 2014 and the Planning Period of 2015 and 2016’, adopted by the State Duma on June 20, 2014, was published on July 3, 2014 on the Russian President’s website.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev presented during a meeting of the Russian Government a forecast for economic growth rates in Russia in the next three years. In 2015 economic growth rate is expected to reach up 2% y-o-y and then accelerate up to 3% and beyond by 2017, said the Prime Minister.

Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian conflict has led to several main outcomes, among which boosting growth rates of capital outflow from the country.

In her report at the 23rd International Banking Congress in St. Petersburg Chairwoman of the Bank of Russia Nabiullina E. S. paid a special emphasis to the objectives of the regulator’s current monetary policy.

The Government Commission for Budget Projects will consider on July 2, 2014 a Draft Federal Budget for 2015 and the Planning Period of 2016 and 2017, taking account of the recent proposals of the Ministry of Finance Russia on reducing budget deficit by more than 0.5 p.p. of GDP (from 1 to 0.4% of GDP).

The idea of introduction of sales tax (ST) in Russia, which seemed to have finally reached back, is relevant again: the Russian Government is considering a possibility to entitle the constituent territories of the Russian Federation to introduce ST at a rate of up to 3% on their territory.

A document was signed on the 27th of June that made Moscow say it will rise import duties on goods from Ukraine, referring to the need for the protection of Russian manufacturers from a likely heavy inflow of Ukraine-made products and the risks of duty-free import of goods from the European Union via Ukraine.

On June 30, 2014, the Bank of Russia extended the maturity from 365 to 549 days for secured loans to banks as part of continuing operations. This policy is applicable to loans secured by non-market assets or guarantees, as well as gold-backed loans.

Belarus and Kazakhstan refused to support Russia's proposal to limit the import of Ukrainian goods to the entire territory of the Customs Union. Russia submitted for consideration by the Eurasian Economic Commission its proposal on a new regime of export for Ukrainian goods, but it was rejected.

In theory, Russia may increase the import duty rates on Ukraine goods from the preferential level (zero rates nearly on all the goods) to the most favorable treatment regime (MFT), that is, the level of duties on trade with countries which are not in the CIS free trade zone.

In the first five months of 2014, a downward trend in investment demand prevailed: in May 2014 investments in capital assets amounted to 97.4% against May 2013, while in January-May 2014, to 96.2% against January-May 2013.