The economic crisis has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of Kazakhs for lavish weddings. Yekaterina Syrtsova, Associate Account Manager, The PBN Company, Almaty, marvels at the glitz and wonders how it all adds up.

If you have ever visited Almaty, chances are you have been stuck in traffic amid two or three honking wedding corteges. This summer it has often felt like one happy couple’s celebration is everyone else’s traffic jam.

Wedding-induced bottlenecks have been prevalent this year, and looking at the splendor of the wedding corteges lined up in front of the Almaty Central Civil Registry Office every weekend, one might think that the crisis had actually passed Almaty by.

This year, the typical traffic-snaring Almaty wedding has not only featured Hummers and while limos. It is a two-day celebration with over 100 guests and complete with western designer clothing, a hired tamada (toastmaster), musicians, dancers, fireworks and even white doves liberated at the ceremony. All adding up to a minimum $8,000 price tag.

What is significant is that these newlyweds are not just the nouveaux riches with cash to burn. Relatively average income couples and their families are taking out massive loans to foot the bill. The Kazakh banks may be surviving on state support, shoring up their balance sheets and refusing mortgages, but it seems that bank managers are still saying ‘I do’ in granting wedding loans.

By Tom Blackwell, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, The PBN Company, Moscow

In the autumn of 2007, when the west was reeling with the effects of the financial crisis, Russia seemed to be an ostrov stabilnosti - a safe haven - from the doom and gloom. Now nearly two years have passed, and the crisis is definitely everywhere in Moscow.  Wherever you go, whomever you talk to, it is obviously that the impact of the economic downturn is crippling.  And what’s worse, the financial crisis has without a doubt led to a crisis of confidence in society - confidence in government, confidence in business and confidence in the economy as a whole.

So you can imagine my relief when I discovered a place to hide, a place where confidence remains sky high.  Just walk into any Azbuka Vkusa, an upscale supermarket chain - particularly the one on Moscow’s Kutuzovsky Prospekt - and you find that the wonderful ostrov stabilnosti that we used to talk so much about is still going strong.  Only now its clear that the haven is not Russia as a country, but rather a small chain of sickly green grocery stores dotted about town.

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By Oksana Monastyrska, Deputy Managing Director, The PBN Company, Kyiv

Ukraine’s stereotypical national mentality comprises a mix of industriousness, integrity and bravery combined with a certain reverie, romanticism and nonchalance.  While these sorts of generalized national characteristics are always slightly misleading, they do provide an interesting prism through which to look at how the recession is changing Ukrainian consumer values.

Recent research by GfK Ukraine and IFAK Ukraine sheds some light on this topic.  Both surveys show beyond doubt that Ukrainians are feeling the effects of the crisis - according to IFAK, 51% of Ukrainians have experienced a reduction in income, and 45% of respondents say that their living standards have deteriorated.

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By Anna Yarmarkova, Associate Account Manager, The PBN Company, Moscow

As the crisis continues, Russians have started looking at ways of cutting their expenditures.  And with salaries falling and food prices rising, people are increasingly planting vegetables instead of buying them.

Dachas, or Russian country houses, have long been popular among city-dwellers.  The high season starts with the May holidays - generally kicking off with shashliki, Russian kebabs, and a good spring clean.  The summer dacha phenomenon, and the corresponding mass exodus from the country’s cities, is so popular that politicians have even been known to save unpopular decisions for this period when citizens are more focused on planting gardens than reading newspapers.

Dachas were originally encouraged during Soviet times as a way for people to help the state by feeding themselves by planting vegetables like potatoes.  With the fall of the Soviet Union and the corresponding improvement in quality of life, people from big cities started to treat their dachas primarily as places for relaxation rather than as sources of food - those with a hankering for gardening tended to prefer petunias to potatoes.

But as Russians cut holidays abroad and grocery bills, dachas are enjoying a resurgence as a place for spending summer vacations - and planting potatoes.

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By Yekaterina Syrtsova, Associate Account Manager, The PBN Company, Almaty

Devaluation, recession, inflation and redundancy - today all these words are familiar to everyone. Almost all industries in Kazakhstan, from energy and metallurgy to food and services, are suffering in the current economic climate. However, there is one particular field that is more profitable than ever - second-hand shops.

Before the crisis, it was taboo to mention that one shopped at a second-hand store. Times, however, are changing. As Elena, a successful shop owner, points out to Svoboda Slova newspaper, instability works in favor of second-hand shop owners. Those people who used to turn their noses up at the smell of second-hand clothes are now turning them up at sky-high prices in regular stores.

The idea is not new, though. During Soviet times there were so-called “commission stores” where all sorts of used goods - ranging from clothes to furniture - were sold. That was the only way to get new clothing during those times of shortage. Then, during perestroika, sympathetic Western countries started sending humanitarian aid that ended up behind the counter.

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By Jed Holmes, Senior Policy Analyst, The PBN Company, Moscow

Russian Internet search engine Yandex has seen a surge in the number of searches for “pistols”.

A virtual surge in handgun interest

The news portal BFM.RU* was the first to report on this phenomenon in mid-January. Curious to see whether this trend was holding, I did a little research of my own on Yandex’s search statistics site.

Searches for “pistols” rose from an average of around 150,000 per month from March through September 2008 to approximately 200,000 in October-November 2008 and 280,000 in December 2008-January 2009. In February 2009, the last month for which statistics are currently available, the number of searches leaped to over 450,000.**

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By Galina Khatiashvili, Intern, The PBN Company, Moscow

One of my friends jokes that during the crisis she is “investing” her money in psychoanalysis. Whether this is because of the greater stress or because of the plummeting price of therapy, I’m not sure. But the financial crisis is prompting all of my friends to make different choices and sacrifices.

My generation has a complex about money. The Soviet legacy means we are hardwired to scrimp and save, but we spent our teenage years during the profligate consumer boom. Now, during the crisis, the unconscious desire to economize has come to the fore.

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By Yekaterina Syrtsova, Associate Account Manager, The PBN Company

People in Kazakhstan feel surprisingly optimistic about the country’s economic situation, according to a recent poll by the Post-Crisis World Institute and the Public Opinion Foundation.  Interfax reports that only 16.6% of people believe that life will get harder before the summer, while 35.4% expect that the situation will improve.  The latter figure stands in contrast to Russia and Ukraine, where far fewer people (12.6% in Russia and 6.5% in Ukraine) expect the situation to get better before the summer.

Kazakhs also look favorably on their government’s anti-crisis measures - BusinessNewEurope reports that “66.3% [gave] their government a thumbs up, against 40.7% in Russia and just 13.5% in Ukraine.  Of those that criticized the government for its action (or lack of it) the numbers were 9.2% in Kazakhstan, 21.5% in Russia and a whopping 74.3% in Ukraine.”

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By Jed Holmes, Senior Policy Analyst, The PBN Company

Plunging Restaurant Receipts Inspire “Anti-Crisis Menus”

According to Vladimir Malyshkov, head of Moscow’s consumer market and services department, the economic crisis has caused a 25-30% drop in revenues for high-end restaurants in the Russian capital, with both average receipt totals and visitation dropping, RIA Novosti reported.

At the same time, he said that turnover at mid-range and economy dining establishments revenues are holding steady or even increasing.  In particular fast food establishments, from street piroshki vendors to Western franchises, are reporting higher revenues.  For example, McDonald’s flagship restaurant on Pushkin Square had the highest sales total for the franchise worldwide, according to a Moscow Times report.

Malyshkov pointed out that some restaurants have created “anti-crisis menus”, offering business lunch options for as little as 100 rubles, or a little under $3. According to the city government’s statistics, restaurant prices have declined on average 15-20%. Read more »