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

Muscovites seem to have found a universal explanation for all problems big and small.  Be it the copy machine running out of paper, a store clerk without proper change, a traffic cop pocketing an exorbitant fine or a whole town up in arms over unemployment and water supply problems, the response is a shrug, a sigh and the inevitable phrase: “you understand, there’s a crisis” (”понимаешь, кризис все-таки”).

For the average person on the street this is most obvious when it comes to prices.   I was left bewildered but not amused when negotiating with a taxi driver the other day.  He demanded 500 rubles for a trip that would only have cost 300 rubles last spring.  It’s the “krizis”, he explained - but I still went in search a more reasonably-priced cabby.

So why do prices keep climbing in Russia?   According to a recent Moscow Times report, food prices are growing 10 times faster than in the EU.  Of course, with Russia importing about 30% of its food supply, it’s easy to see how ruble devaluation is playing a role here.  Nonetheless, it seems that Russians are getting whacked twice by the crisis, not only facing wage or job cuts, but also higher prices and higher interest rates.  Perhaps this is what President Medvedev meant when he said in late May that the crisis is developing according to a “moderately negative scenario.”

That may seem to be a bit of an understatement to say the least, but what can I say? Понимаешь, кризис все-таки.

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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