Commentary
Alexander Kurdin Department for Fuel and Energy Sector
Regulation May Lead to a Fuel Shortage
The draft law on state regulation of gasoline prices was submitted to the State Duma. Its authors propose to set the price limit for fuel from 2019. They believe this will protect consumers from strong price fluctuations in the market.
Mikhail Pryadilnikov
The state must be proactive in offering electronic services to the public
Digitization can reduce the number of officials by a third over the next 6 years, Head of the Accounts Chamber was quoted by an RBC TV correspondent. This will allow, among other things, to reduce the pressure being put on business by oversight and supervision authorities.
Irina Nikitina Project Management Office for Implementing the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation Program
A number of bills aimed at liberalizing the tax regime for IT companies are to be passed before December 2019
The Skolkovo foundation (the competencies center for the regulations and standards section of the Digital Economy program) has suggested cancelling VAT for sales of software, IT outsourcing, and cloud services from January 1, 2019. The relevant amendments to the Tax Code of Russia have been developed by the Skolkovo foundation and refined by the Ministry for Finance, Interfax notes.
Oleg Kolobov Department for Fuel and Energy Sector
The further growth in demand for NGV equipment will encourage domestic car makers to build new production facilities
As gasoline and diesel fuel continue to rise in price both private car owners and major companies switch to compressed natural gas (CNG). The demand for natural gas tanks has already increased more than four-fold. As local manufacturers fail to meet the sky-rocketing demand, the new niche is flooded with imports from China, including counterfeits. Experts warn about the dangers of such products but they are convinced that domestic suppliers should soon be able to meet the rising demand. That's the opinion expressed in the monthly energy bulletin of the Analytical Center, in which the experts look back at the past five years of natural gas vehicles in Russia, writes Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Alexander Amiragyan Department for Fuel and Energy Sector
The higher the oil prices, the faster the increase in investments
Last year, Russian oil and gas companies expanded their investments in upstream projects (exploration, drilling and extraction) up to USD 58 bln, which was 38 percent more than the previous year. "The increase in investments in Russia resulted from increase in investments in oil and natural gas extraction in rubles and strengthening of the national currency," Alexander Amiragyan, Deputy Head of the Department of Fuel and Energy Sector of the Analytical Center, commented on this situation in an interview with a Rossiyskaya Gazeta correspondent.
Alexander Amiragyan Department for Fuel and Energy Sector
Completion of the tax manoeuvre in the oil industry will increase the price of oil in the domestic market
This week, the State Duma has passed the bill on the tax manoeuvre in the oil industry in its final reading. Seeing how the Belorussian oil industry is tightly linked with Russia, Belorussian experts started debating about how the Russian bill is going to impact Belarus. Alexander Amiragyan, Deputy Head of the Department of the Fuel and Energy Sector of the Analytical Center, answered some of the most pertinent questions in a comment for REGNUM.
Irina Nikitina Project Management Office for Implementing the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation Program
A special tax regime for "traveling" skilled professionals will increase the personal income tax base
"Passing the bill introducing a special tax regime for "traveling" professionals can boost budget revenue from personal income tax," Irina Nikitina, the coordinator for Statutory Regulation of the project management office for the implementation of the Digital Economy program at the Analytical Center, told a TASS correspondent.
Vladimir Mesropyan Project Management Office for Implementing the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation Program
It has been suggested that stores should be forced to offer at least 3 cashless payment methods to customers by 2023
The Statutory Regulation work group of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization Digital Economy is suggesting that all stores be forced by 2023 to offer customers at least three options for cashless electronic payment for goods and services, one of which must be through the National System of Payment Cards. This follows from the draft amendments to the consumer protection law drafted by members of the work group, according to Finmarket.
Elena Razumova Department for Expert Analytics
The problem of fluctuations in crop yields and prices for agricultural products is manageable
According to Rossiya Segodnya international news agency, unfavorable weather conditions in a number of Russian regions may adversely affect the bulk harvest of agricultural crops. The experts interviewed by journalists noted that the influence of weather factors on crop yields in the country remained high, but modern technologies could reduce it.
Leonid Grigoryev Chief Adviser to Head of the Analytical Center