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In 2015, a law was passed to charge an individual property tax on the basis of the cadaster (market) value and not on that of state assessment of the property as it used to be done fr om 1992.

The system of centralized procurement used in Russia does not imply centralization in its strict sense. Such conclusion was made by the Gaidar Institute and RANEPA experts in their study.

On 10 June, for the first time since summer 2015 the Central Bank of Russia approved reduction of the key rate. It fell 0.5 p.p. to 10.5%.

The RF Ministry of Economic Development is ordered to consider the issue of closing down inefficient special economic zones (SEZ).

Earlier this week, the Russian Ministry of Finance began attracting foreign loans. The first step was the placement of 10-year government bonds in the amount of $1.75 billion.

On 23 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the distribution of revenues fr om excise duties on fuel. According to the law, starting from 1 June, 2016, the standard distribution of revenues from excise duties on petroleum products will be changed: 12% of them will be transferred to the federal budget, 88% – to regional budgets.

The economic situation in January–March 2016 was determined by the inertia effect of the previous year's factors.

The Russian Ministry of Finance is developing a new version of the budgetary rule which will restrain the ruble strengthening under oil price fluctuations. This was stated by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

The next rise in excise duties on petroleum products has led to an increase in stock prices for petroleum and diesel fuel.

The World Bank forecasts that by the end of 2016, the number of impoverished Russians will grow by 1 million and will reach 20.3 million people.

The past year was the first year of implementing the Forecast plan (program) of federal property privatization and the guidelines of federal property privatization for 2014–2016, approved by the Russian Government decree № 1111-p from 1 July 2013.

According to the 2015 results, capital investments in Russia amounted to Rb 14.56 trillion having decreased 8.4% in real terms.

At present, the integration potential of the EEU is not utilized to full capacity. The economies of the EEU member-states are not much integrated into global added value chains.

Russia’s Finance Ministry has proposed raising, from 1 April 2016, the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuels by respectively 2 and 1 roubles a litre. According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov1, this will generate about Rb 80bn in tax revenues to the consolidated budget, whereas prices of refined petroleum products will see no growth.

Russia’s Finance Ministry has been commissioned by Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev to explore the possibility of introducing taxes on sugary drinks, palm oil and other unhealthy foods. The Finance Ministry has welcomed the initiative.

In development of anti-crisis measures, the government considers among other things the prospect of abolishment of insurance contributions from 2017 and return to the single social tax (SST) administered by the Federal Tax Service (FTS).