BUSINESS PRESS

CITY IN-BASKET

City bank crisis scares off investors

While St Petersburg's beleaguered Astrobank is taking measures to remedy its financial crisis, depositors are losing confidence in the city's leading banks.

Lada to produce cars at new factory in Finland

Lada cars are to be produced in Finland by a new Russian-Finnish joint venture company. The Finnish city of Uusinkupunki has been chosen as the site of a plant which will build VAZ 2109 model Ladas.

High-speed train to Finland on schedule

A multi-million-dollar high-speed railway running from St Petersburg to Helsinki via Lahti is scheduled to start by 1999, according to Finnish officials.

City leads in muni bonds

St Petersburg could be the first Russian city to issue municipal bonds redeemable in hard currency, according to First Deputy Mayor and Alexei Kudrin.

A to Z remains closed, for now

The Western-style grocery store A-Z Supermarket remained closed last week while director and store manager Pella Knutson said he was "waiting and seeing" for the time when it would reopen.

Local railroad to offer new services

In an effort to boost declining ticket sales, agency officils announced that the St Petersburg Railroad Agency now offers access to the European START-AMADEUS system and will be opening up branches in outlying areas of the city early in 1996.

Deutsche BA hopes to promote ties with Russia

About 100 passengers chosen by lottery flew free of charge to Berlin from St Petersburg courtesy of Deutsche BA as an attempt to integrate the two cultures and promote business ties between Russia and Germany.

Environmental ministry approves railway project

The Russian ministry of environmental affairs has approved the controversial plan on the construction of Russia's first high-speed railway line.

LENINGRAD OBLAST ECONOMY JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 1995

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