The Russian currency lags its ideal value by a whopping 64.5%.
The ruble is the most undervalued currency on The Economist’s Big Mac index.
The publication’s research indicated that the Russian currency is undervalued by a whopping 64.5%, up from 70.4% six months ago. The Big Mac index suggests it should cost 22.65 rubles for $1, but in reality the price of a dollar is 63 roubles.
The Economist launched the Big Mac index in 1986 as a handy guide for assessing whether currencies are at the correct level according to the theory of purchasing-power parity. Today, the index measures the price of a Big Mac in every country that has a McDonald’s restaurant.
But it’s not always been a happy meal for The Economist, which has faced criticism for not taking into account variations in the price of a Big Mac in different cities. The Big Mac index is calculated according to data that puts the price of a Big Mac in the U.S. at $5.74 and in Russia at just 130 rubles ($2). However, in some cities, the price of a Big Mac can be as high as 156 rubles ($2.50), according to economist Kirill Tremasov, cited in news website The Bell.

Half of Russian workers earn salaries of less than 35,000 rubles ($550) a month, despite a small increase in average monthly income over the past year, according to newly released official data.
Stagnation in real disposable income has led to a slow deterioration in the quality of life for ordinary Russians and is feeding a growing propensity for social unrest. Russians have named wealth inequality as the biggest reason why they’re unhappy with Putin.
The median income of 27 million employees in more than 101,000 enterprises totaled 34,335 rubles this April, according to the State Statistics Service’s (Rosstat) biennial wage distribution data published Wednesday.  
Meanwhile, overall nominal monthly income averaged 46,300 rubles in January-June 2019, up 7% over January-June 2018.

Russian lawmakers have passed legislation to allow bow-and-arrow hunting.
Possession of bows for purposes other than sport and research is currently prohibited in Russia. Around 1 million unlicensed bows, crossbows and similar ranged weapons are owned by “hundreds of thousands” of Russians, lawmakers cite official data as saying.
A newly passed bill distinguishes throwing weapons into those that use “muscular force” or “a mechanical device” to fire projectiles. Bows will fall under the mechanical category and could be sold to Russian citizens who have hunting licenses and weapons permits.
“Unlike crossbows, the use of bows as a hunting weapon requires special physical skills and abilities, while their technical characteristics guarantee safe use,” an explanatory note said.
Lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament voted unanimously for the draft bill in its third and final reading Wednesday.
The new measure will need to be approved by the upper-house Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law.
It will come into force six months after publication.

Foreign tourists have spent a record 864 billion rubles ($13.6 billion) in 2018 in Moscow, City Hall said Wednesday.
Some 5.5 million foreign tourists visited the Russian capital last year, according to the mayor’s office. The influx placed Moscow in the top-20 list of the most visited European capitals last year, City Hall said.
Thanks to the increase, Moscow’s budget revenues from tourism quadrupled from 2010 and totaled 118 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) last year, deputy mayor Vladimir Yefimov said Wednesday.
A recent survey of international tourists has suggested that many are not traveling to Moscow because they think it’s too expensive and unsafe.
Meanwhile, the Boston Consulting Group forecast that Moscow could be among the world’s fastest-growing tourist destinations by 2025 if its administration adopted a comprehensive strategy tailored toward improving potential visitors’ experiences.
Officials say they expect 15 percent more tourists in 2019 due to the positive image created by the FIFA World Cup last summer.

The new passports will be plastic cards containing electronic chips.
Russia is planning to phase out paper passports within three years as part of its national digitization program, drawing support as well as criticism over privacy concerns, according to the official government website.
The government resumed discussions on issuing digital passports last fall, five years after it initially considered the idea. Cost estimates for the overhaul range from 114.4 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) to 144 billion rubles ($2.2 billion).
The first digital passports, which will take the form of plastic cards, will be issued next July in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov said Wednesday.

Russian online retailer Wildberries posted 85 percent year-on-year growth in revenues in the first three months of 2019 to 38.9 billion rubles ($603 million), with the number of unique users up by 89 percent.
Wildberries has been Russia’s largest online store for three consecutive years and is one the highest-valued Russian Internet companies at $1.2 billion. Its owner Tatyana Bakalchuk is Russia’s second female billionaire.
The highest growing segments for the company in the first quarter were electronics, office equipment and household and kitchen appliances. Widlberries also noted significant growth in online orders of footwear and other types of clothing.

The Russian government has approved construction plans for a toll highway that will dramatically cut the time for cargo to travel between Europe and China, the Vedomosti business daily reported.
Russia is pursuing an ambitious infrastructure plan during President Vladimir Putin’s current presidential term, including developing its portion of the strategic China-Western Europe transport corridor. Russia has reportedly begun construction of the first section of the corridor this year: a toll road linking China’s western neighbor Kazakhstan with Belarus called the Meridian.

Karyo Holdings, controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, sold its entire 15.625 percent stake in Russian shoe producer and retailer Obuv Rossii (OR), the company told bne intellinews. The buyer of the shares and the value of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
Prokhorov’s was a very successful speculative investment. He bought a stake in a private equity deal between the company’s first and second attempts at an initial public offering (IPO).
Obuv is a classic Russian retail story. Its offering is priced in the mid-market and focuses on the burgeoning middle class living in the regions. Russia’s footwear market is in recovery mode and has long-term growth potential, as Russians own a fraction of the shoes that their Western peers do, the company’s CEO Anton Titov told bne in 2017.