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The Regions This Week
November 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Southeast Europe
Romania’s central bank governor took a more cautious line on euro adoption than the country’s government, saying the country could enter the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 2024 and consequently adopt the euro at the soonest in 2026. Previously, top government officials talked of joining the eurozone by 2024.
Serbian majority state-owned telco Telekom Srbija is still in the race for Telekom Albania, eKapija reported. In October, Telekom Srija filed a bid for Telekom Albania but the Albanian gov- ernment said the Serbian company is not wel- come due to possible political reactions.
Croatian public sector unions cancelled a planned strike after reaching an agreement with the government. The two sides have agreed that base pay for public sector workers will be in- creased by 3% on January 1, 2019, and by a fur- ther 2% on September 1.
The Turkish lira is no longer the riskiest cur- rency out there, with the unwanted title now be- longing to Russia’s ruble, Bloomberg said. Three- month risk reversals for the lira — the premium of derivatives contracts to sell the currency against the dollar over those to buy it — have edged below the ruble’s for the first time since mid-May.
Eight workers from a textile facility in Albania were hospitalised after being poisoned by a gas release from the air conditioners. The owner of the factory, an Italian citizen identified as "G.S.", has been brought to the police for questioning.
Germany-based Varengold Bank launched op- erations in Bulgaria after setting up a branch in the country in May. The bank announced its inten- tion to enter Bulgaria a year ago after Bulgarian investment company Euro-Finance became a shareholder.
Serbia's government filed a formal request with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) to start consultations on the 100% cus- toms tariffs imposed by Kosovo on imports of goods from Serbia and Bosnia, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said. Earlier, the US urged Pristina to lift the punitive tariffs.
Consumer prices in Bosnia increased 1.8% y/y in October after climbing 1.7% y/y in September, the country’s statistics office said. In m/m terms, the CPI in October moved up 0.9%, after rising 0.5% m/m in September.
Romania could compete with Bulgaria and Tur- key to host a new Volkswagen plant, unnamed sources told German news portal automobil- woche.de. Volkswagen has already announced it will be expanding its production capacity post- 2022 with an additional plant in Eastern Europe.
The Macedonian parliament stripped ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of his immunity after he fled to Hungary to avoid serving a two-year prison sentence. Gruevski, who was sentenced
in the Tank case for influencing officials to buy a luxury Mercedes from state funds and faces trials in four other cases, has been granted asylum by the Hungarian authorities.
Support for the Slovenian government is increas- ing, a poll released by Delo showed. However,
the opposition Democrats (SDS) remain the most popular party in the country, the poll showed.
Turkey risks expulsion from the US-led F-35 jet fighter programme if Ankara takes delivery of the advanced Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile sys- tem, according to a Pentagon report, Bloomberg reported. Turkey’s acquisition of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air system is a done deal that cannot be cancelled, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this month.