Page 7 - bne_Magazine_July_2017

bne July 2017 The Month That Was I 7
Economics
Central Europe
Polish retail sales grew 7.4% y/y at con- stant prices in May. The reading marks a pick-up in the pace of growth of retail sales over the 6.4% annual growth seen in April.
Polish core inflation gained 0.8% y/y in May. The reading – which is 0.1pp lower compared to April – shows core inflation slowing after four months of acceleration. The headline CPI reading remained relatively subdued at 1.9% y/y in May.
Polish industrial production returned to fast growth, growing 6.5% y/y in May when seasonally adjusted.
Polish unemployment fell 1.6pp y/y to 7.5% in May. The rate is lower that at any point since Poland shed the legacy of over-employment under communist rule and became a market economy in 1990.
Czech unemployment fell a further 0.3pp in monthly terms to 4.1% in May, the fourth monthly drop in a row.
Slovak inflation accelerated once more in May as it pushed to 1.1% y/y. The annual rate of expansion in the CPI
was 0.3pp quicker than in April. On a monthly basis, prices grew 0.2% m/m, double the rate of the previous month.
Slovak unemployment plunged to
a record low in May. The unemployment rate fell 0.39pp m/m and 2.1pp y/y
to 7.35%.
Southeast Europe
Bosnia will lose out on a new tranche of IMF funding, after it failed to adopt
legislative amendments. Sarajevo will now have to start negotiating new condi- tions in order to save the deal with the institution.
Croatia's consumer prices rose 1.1% y/y in May, decelerating from a peak point of 1.4% increase in April, according to data from the statistics office.
Croatia's registered unemployment rate declined for the fourth consecutive month to a record low of 11.7% in May from 13.2% in April, preliminary data from the statistics office showed.
Montenegro’s GDP expanded by a real 3.2% y/y in the first quarter, slowing from a 3.4% y/y growth in the previous three months, the statistics office reported.
Macedonia recorded zero GDP growth in the first quarter. The figure was expected bearing in mind the lengthy political crisis in the country, but growth is expected to revive later in the year following the appointment of a new government.
more than double the proposed amount of $3bn, according to the issue’s organiser VTB Capital.
Russia’s industrial output in May remained strong, jumping by 5.6% year-on-year compared with 2.3% y/y growth seen in April and 0.1% y/y in first quarter overall. The y/y growth in the reporting month was the strongest seen since February 2012.
Cash-strapped Belarus has successfully placed $1.4bn dual-tranche US-dollar- denominated Eurobonds with five-year and 10-year maturities.
The National Bank of Belarus reduced its benchmark interest rate by 1pp to 13%. The regulator says the cut was pos- sible due to positive inflation dynamics and favourable trends in the foreign exchange and deposit markets.
Eurasia
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has decided to increase its refinancing rate by as much as 5 percentage points to 14%, changing the rate for the first time since January 2015.
The central bank said its decision was influenced by “growing inflationary risks” and the need to ensure stable consumer prices.
Foreign direct investment (FDI)
to Georgia increased by 22% y/y to $1.64bn in 2016, the country's statistics agency Geostat said. On an adjusted basis, FDI rose by 5%.
The growth of Bulgarian retail sales decelerated sharply in April, slow- ing to 2.1% y/y from a 6.0% y/y rise in March. The slowdown in growth was seen across the board in sales of food, non-food and fuel.
Turkey's calendar-adjusted retail sales volume index fell by 0.1% y/y in April after declining a revised 0.5% in March.
Eastern Europe
Demand for the latest issue of Russia’s sovereign Eurobonds exceeded $6bn,
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