Page 62 - bne magazine March 2017 issue

62 I New Europe in Numbers bne March 2017
Turkey unemployment
Turkish unemployment rises to 12.1% in November
Hungarian GDP growth (y/y change)
Turkish unemployment hit 12.1% in November last year, rising from the previous month’s 11.8% and 10.5% in November 2015, data from national statistics
office TUIK showed on February 15. The November 2016 figure was the highest unemployment rate recorded since March 2010 when the jobless rate was 12.8%, reflecting the impact of slower economic growth and the weak investment appetite.
Some 3.73mn people were registered as jobless in November last year, up from 3.13mn a year ago. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 11.8% from 11.7% a month ago, and from 10.3% in November 2015.
The non-farm unemployment rate was 14.3% in the month versus 12.4% in November 2015.
Hungarian economic growth disappoints in fourth quarter
Hungary’s economy grew just 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to unadjusted preliminary data, statistics office KSH reported on February 14. The result is below market expectations and represents the slowest rate of expansion among the Visegrad countries.
The reading leaves full-year growth at 2% compared to 3.1% the previous year. That is well below both the government’s 2.5% full-year growth target and the central bank’s latest forecast for a 2.8% expansion. The poor reading mainly reflects the struggles of the industrial and construction sector throughout the year on the back of a fall in investment.
Latvian inflation accelerates to 2.9% y/y in January
Latvia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.9% y/y in January, data released by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) on February 10 showed.
With price growth picking up speed on December’s growth of 2.2% y/y, January was the seventh successive month of rising CPI. The index added just 0.1% in 2016, having been tipped into the black by the December rise.
The biggest price growth came in the food segment, where prices grew 6.2%. In transport and communication, prices grew 5.6% in each category.
PwC says Russia to be biggest European economy by 2050
Russia will be the biggest economy in Europe by 2050, consultants PwC said in a report on February 7 in its latest instalment of “The Long View: How will the global economic order change by 2050”.
This is not the first time PwC has made this prediction. Russia was well on track to overtake Germany, currently Europe’s biggest economy, much earlier than 2050 until the 2008 crisis struck.
Russia’s economy reached a peak value in dollar terms of $2.3 trillion in 2013 vs Germany’s $3.75 trillion the same year. However, since then Russia’s economy has fallen back to about $1.2 trillion now, about a third the size of Germany’s $3.4 trillion. The chart shows the percentage gain/loss each country’s economy is expected to make between now and 2050.
Latvia inflation CPI y/y
The biggest economies by 2050
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