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The Regions This Week
April 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Central Europe
Manufacturing purchasing managers' indices in Central Europe failed to improve in March, but still remain robust, thanks to expanding confidence in the Eurozone, the source of the bulk of demand for Central Europe’s factories. Poland’s PMI reading dropped 0.7 point to stand at 53.5; the Czech Republic, meanwhile, dropped 0.1 point from February’s 19-month high to 57.5; while Hungary fell 3.5 points to 56.0 in March.
The Czech state will buy the insolvent coal miner OKD for CZK80mn (€3mn) through a Ministry of Finance vehicle. The ruling Social Democrats and their coalition partners, the populist Ano party led by Finance Minister Andrej Babis, have been squabbling since OKD was declared insolvent in May 2016 over whose ministry would be used to rescue the miner.
Czech seasonally-adjusted industrial production rose 6.7% in February, a slowdown from the 9.6% surge reported in January.
The Slovak parliament on April 5 passed a resolution revoking the Meciar amnesties, two days after the president signed off on a constitutional bill opening the way for the move. Former prime minister Vladimir Meciar in 1998 amnestied 13 people – many of them linked to him – who were suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of the son of Michal Kovac, who was president at the time.
Slovak retail sales expanded 5.6% y/y in February.
The result extends a trend of recovery in retail turnover that has run since November, even if it was slower than the 7.4% gain recorded in the first month of 2017.
Polish unemployment fell 1.7pp y/y to 8.2% in March. In monthly terms, the rate of joblessness fell 0.3pp in March. The unemployment level now stands at its lowest point in 26 years, the ministry said.
Dino set the final price for its upcoming IPO at PLN33.5 (€7.8) for retail investors and PLN34.5
per share for institutions, putting the potential value of the IPO at PLN1.65bn. That would probably be large enough to make it the biggest offer on the Warsaw Stock Exchange this year.
Poland charged Russian air traffic controllers with intentionally causing the 2010 plane crash at Smolensk that killed then president Lech Kaczynski and 95 other passengers, Poland’s deputy prosecutor general said. Russia rejects the claim, which is seen more as rhetoric by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party in order to engage its conservative and largely anti-Russian electorate.
Hungary's state deficit dropped slightly last year to HUF609.7bn (€1.97bn), according to preliminary data released by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank. The shortfall is equivalent to 1.7% of GDP. That was 0.1pp higher as a proportion of GDP than the deficit in 2015. State debt stood at 74.1% of GDP.
The Hungarian central bank wrapped up its Funding for Growth Scheme (FGS) having lent HUF2.46tn (€7.9bn) to just over 36,000 small and medium-sized companies. The MNB launched FGS in 2013 to help boost the economy, as commercial banks had hugely reduced lending in the face of heavy taxes levied on the sector since the Fidesz government returned to power in 2010.
Hungarian retail sales growth slowed to 1.2%,
adjusted for calendar effects. The reading is the lowest since 2013 and was well below expectations.
The Latvian gas market was fully liberalised on April 3 following the entry into force of a number of legal changes. Riga has fought hard to end control of the gas transmission and storage infrastructure by Russia-controlled monopolist Latvijas Gaze (LG).
Latvia's calendar-adjusted industrial production surged 10.6% y/y in February, more than doubling its growth rate from the expansion of 4.7% the previous month.