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USD falls against RUR by 1% during Nov 22-27. USD fell by 1% during Nov 22-27. On Nov 27 CBR set the official RUR/USD exchange rate at 26.3666. Thus, it dropped by 15 kopek compared to the rate set on the previous working day (Nov 24). During the previous 3 days the USD dropped against RUR by other 13 kopek. Hence, in 4 days USD lost 28 kopek. This fall (the largest in 2006) was caused by the strengthening of EUR against USD on international stock exchange. Such a low USD rate against RUR was witnessed only in Nov 1999. On Jan 9, 2003 official RUR/USD exchange rate made up 31.88. However, afterwards USD started to depreciate against RUR. As a result, during the last 4 years USD weakened against the local currency by RUR 5.53 (21%). Such a fall may have negative impact on Russian export-oriented economy.

Switzerland to allocate CHF 131mn in next 10 years in financial aid for Hungary. Hungary will receive some CHF 131mn in financial aid from Switzerland in the course of the next 10 years. That was made possible after Swiss citizens approved in referendum to earmark total of CHF 1bn to the 10 EU newcomers. The absorption of the money would be organised through tenders and Hungary has already indicated that the main focus would be on SMEs, transport and energy. Among the regional peers Poland would get the largest amount from the aid, CHF 489mn, while the Czech Republic was allocated CHF 110mn.

Europe gets its LCDS index but settlement disputes mean many banks remain on the sidelines.

Rapid urbanization poses major challenges for Asia’s developing economies, particularly those lacking government investment. Enterprising Asian developers are now bridging the infrastructure gap alone, creating communities from scratch and reaping handsome rewards in the process. Chris Leahy reports.

The dicier end of the leveraged finance market is the obvious place to look for distressed debt: maybe it’s just too damned obvious. A number of distressed debt investors and advisers are turning away from it, reasoning that it offers inflated prices and limited value. And there is another, even bigger credit market in transition staring buyers in the face – the $13 trillion European bank loan market, the biggest credit market in the world.

DEALS THAT CHANGED THE MARKET IN 2006. To be published in the February 2007 edition of Euromoney.

Holdouts from debt restructuring try new line of attack.

Tensions between front and back offices over how to price cash CDOs are preying on some industry data providers’ minds.

Over the years various European names have sold dollar bonds using global formats aiming to find non-European buyers. However, few have had much success in the US. This relative failure has been put down to various factors including the lack of familiarity with the concept of covered bonds and an insular outlook among the investor base. But there has already been evidence that things are changing.

Composite economic indicator CROLEI keeps growing in September. The composite leading economic indicator CROLEI, which is complied by the finance ministry and the Zagreb Institute of Economics, continued on upward path in September, improving by further 0.61pts m/m. In august, it added 1.14pts m/m after 0.46pts increase in July and 0.47pts increase in June. The finance ministry commented that the continuous growth indicated strong industrial and economic growth by the end of 2006 and in early 2007. The components of the index that showed m/m growth were: number of tourist overnights; real retail sales; total liquid assets; cash and deposits in kuna; commercial banks’ foreign exchange reserves on term deposits; and money market interest rate.

The Chilean government is poised to back a fundamental reform of the country’s celebrated private pensions system so that domestic banks can administer their own pension funds for the first time.

Love him or loathe him – and in Serbia plenty of people do just that – there’s no ignoring Mladjan Dinkic. The first sight that greets – his opponents argue assails – arrivals at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport is a giant poster of the man himself, promoting the G17 Plus party he hopes he will lead to power in parliamentary elections in late January.