The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce pledged active and sustainable long-term support for Russian industrial SMEs in a meeting with the Russian Finance Minister Andrey Belousov in Berlin last Friday, which encouraged companies to invest in Russia.

Stephan Pouyat, Head of Global Reach Product Management, Euroclear

Euroclear is a Belgium-based financial services company that specializes in post-trade services, helping their clients to settle domestic and cross-border securities transactions and safeguard their investments. Here, Euroclear’s Head of Global Reach Product Management Stephan Pouyat discusses their recent foray into the Russian market.

In January 2013, PwC published its latest World in 2050 report that anticipates Russia will become the largest European economy before 2020 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, and by 2035 at market exchange rates, overtaking Germany, France and the UK.

Modern Russia spoke to PwC’s Chief UK Economist John Hawksworth about Russia’s economy and growth potential in comparison to other BRIC and G20 economies.

Russia’s commitment to open government has paid dividends: the country has continued to rise up the rankings of the Open Budget Survey, reaching 10th place in the latest edition – up from 27th in 2006 – in what the survey’s authors describe as an “encouraging development.”

Russian tax revenue rose once again last year, official figures showed yesterday. Summarizing its activity for 2012, the country’s Federal Taxation Service (FTS) announced a total income of almost 11 trillion rubles (about US$365 billion), an increase of 13 percent on 2011.

FTS chief Mikhail Mishustin had already provided estimates for the headline tax revenue figures, but the breakdown shows that the majority of tax income comes from just a few sources, including a mineral extraction tax and VAT on goods and services.