I.Metshin: "We see growth in tourism, services and catering"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, August 18, by Zilya Gayfi). Kazan is among the top three cities with a million plus population in terms of per capita trade volume, services and catering, said Ivan Kuznetsov, deputy head of the Executive Committee on Economic Development, at today's Business Monday meeting. He summed up Kazan's socio-economic development in the first half-year.

According to him, there has been a slight slowdown in Kazan's economic growth. A similar downturn, observed in almost 60% of the cities with a million plus population, is due to the situation currently prevailing in the world.  Nevertheless, the capital of Tatarstan shows better results than the rest of the republic. "In the first half of 2014, the index of industrial production in Kazan was higher than the average for Tatarstan and Russia. While the industrial production index was 100.6% for Tatarstan and 101.5% for Russia, it was 102.3% for Kazan, although in the first half of 2013, the growth rate was 105.8%," reported Ivan Kuznetsov.

Positive trends were observed in the consumer market of the city. "The retail trade turnover in the first half-year amounted to 208 billion rubles. The volume of services increased by 3.7% and amounted to more than 65 billion rubles. Like last year, the largest increase was in catering, which grew by 12.5%, reaching a turnover of nine billion rubles. Kazan is among the top three cities with a million plus population in terms of trade volume, services and catering," said Ivan Kuznetsov.

A slight decline was observed in the field of investment. "To date, fixed asset investments amount to 50 billion rubles, or 94% of the 2013 level. The share of equity in fixed capital investments for large and medium-sized enterprises increased slightly, which was primarily due to the reduction of budgetary injections. Reallocation of investments has been observed among different sectors of the economy, with manufacturing in the dominant position," he said.

According to Ilsur Metshin, Kazan's attractiveness to investors owes much to the Universiade. "Many predicted that after the Universiade a recession and other economic problems would occur. Fortunately, that risk was taken into account, and we are pleased that, thanks to the new major projects initiated by the President of Tatarstan, the Universiade legacy continues to impact the investment attractiveness of the city and of the republic. We see growth in the tourism industry, services and catering. Of course, we are expecting certain problems in the future, and we have to be ready to face them," said the mayor.