The main events by the morning: May 3

• Turkey has stopped all trade with Israel in protest. The restrictive measures will last until Israel declares a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. In 2023, the trade turnover between the countries amounted to $6.8 billion, of which 76% is accounted for by Turkish exports. Turkey exported the most iron and steel to Israel. Imports mainly consisted of refined petroleum products.

• The growth rate of the e-commerce market is slowing down. According to Data Insight estimates, Internet sales increased by 48% in 2023, and by the end of 2024 they will grow by only 36%. In 2026, growth is expected to be only 18%.

• Kazakhstan is becoming an increasingly important buyer of electricity from Russia in the context of reduced supplies to China. In January-March, supplies to the republic increased by 29%y/y, to 977.2 million kWh, which accounted for almost 50% of all exports from the Russian Federation.

• Putin and Xi will discuss in May the replacement of SWIFT for the BRICS countries. The leaders will discuss a solution to the problem of bank payments. Business hopes that after Putin's trip to Beijing, problems with payments will be resolved.

• «The Metallurgists case» is almost closed. The dispute between the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the largest metallurgical companies over rental prices, which has been ongoing since 2021, is nearing completion. Following the example of Severstal, NLMK and MMK proposed a settlement agreement in the case. 

• Raiffeisen Bank will start shutting down its business in Russia in the third quarter of this year. New loans will be stopped, and the old ones will be returned. Earlier, the Austrian bank received a notification from the ECB demanding to stop operations in the Russian Federation.