Russia’s ratings upgrade has caused a surge of interest in corporate Eurobonds from investors hungry for yield. Ben Aris reports on activity in the country’s bond markets.In the offices of Moscow City State Debt Committee, the body that organises all of the Russian capital’s debt issues, outsized cheques for hundreds of millions of dollars and euros hang on the wall – money that chairman Sergei Pakhomov has raised for the city.
Ben Aris reports from Kiev on the benefits that the new eastern bloc CES alliance is expected to bring and on the country’s growing relationship with the EU.The leaders of the four biggest countries in eastern Europe gathered in the Crimean resort of Yalta in May to create their answer to the EU: the Common Economic Space (CES). The new free trade zone is designed to feed flourishing economic growth in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.