Page 7 - bne_newspaper_May_24_2019

The Regions This Week
May 24, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Central Europe
Thousands of Czechs went out on streets again to protest against the appointment of Justice Minister Marie Benesova, who they fear could have an influence on a criminal case against Prime Minister Andrej Babis. This is the fourth week in a row of protests against the appointment of Benesova, whose past comments and actions have been supportive of the prime minister.
A Latvia-China e-commerce hub was launched at the Baltic Container Terminal in Riga. The China (Ningbo)-Latvia Cross-border E-commerce Hub is expected to promote economic cooperation between China and Latvia, which state secretary of the Ministry of Economics Eriks Eglitis forecast could reach €1bn in the coming years.
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL signed an agreement on the development of hydrogen fuel cell projects in Central and Eastern Europe with regional accelerator InoBat. The Hungarian company is pursuing alternative investments in line with its long-term strategy.
Estonian residents spent an average of €3.3mn per day on online shopping in the first quarter of 2019, the Bank of Estonia found. This represented an increase of one-fifth compared to the same quarter of 2018, as Estonians continued to buy more from both local and foreign online shops.
Czech real estate portal Bezrealitky will expand to Slovakia. The portal has about one fifth of the total real estate market in the Czech Republic and it wants to reach the same level in Slovakia within three years, daily E15.cz reported.
The Latvian unemployment rate fell 1.3pp on the year to 6.9% in the first quarter, according to data released by the statistics office CSB. Meanwhile, the employment rate grew 0.9pp y/y to 64.4%. Both indicators point to the continuing tightening of the Latvian labour market.
Swedbank will take over Barclays’ Rise Vilnius financial technology centre in Lithuania. “Swedbank’s ambitions in Lithuania are long- term, and we want to promote the creation of digital innovations that open up new opportunities for citizens, businesses and the state,” said Dovile Grigiene, who heads Swedbank in Lithuania.
Polish industrial production grew by an unadjusted 9.2% y/y in April, data from statistical office GUS showed. The headline figure is thus 3.6pp above the unadjusted figure recorded the preceding month attesting to the Polish industrial sector’s stubbornness to give in to negative trends in the external environment, especially the slowdown of activity in Germany, Poland’s biggest trade partner.
The German car producer Volkswagen will reportedly build its new small electric car in Slovakia, in its Bratislava factory, German daily Handelsblatt.com reported. The company initially planned to make the vehicle in its factory in Germany, however, decided to choose Slovakia’s capital instead due to lower wage costs compared to Germany.
The stock of valid residence permits Hungary issued to non-EU citizens doubled in 2017
after the government eased restrictions on the employment of non-EU citizens and before the controversial residence bond programme was phased out. Hungary had the steepest increase in residence permits issued to foreigners in 2017, according to figures from Eurostat.
Estonia's producer price index (PPI) grew 1.6% y/y in April, data released by Statistics Estonia showed. The headline figure sees the PPI inflation rate gain 1.2pp compared to the annual reading in March, extending the current trend of PPI inflation to 31 months straight.