Page 17 - bne_newspaper_March_15_2019

Southeast Europe
March 15, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Turkish industry suffers fifth straight monthly decline
Akin Nazli in Belgrade
Turkey’s calendar-adjusted industrial production index contracted for a fifth consecutive month in January, data from national statistics office TUIK showed on March 14. However, the contraction of 7.3% y/y was lower than the revised 10% y/y recorded for December.
TUIK revised the index back to January 2015 for its latest data industrial output release. In response to growing criticism, on March 12 the statistics institute issued a written statement to explain why it used a USD/TRY rate of 4.82 in its latest GDP data release.
A Reuters poll had predicted that there would be a 7.55% y/y fall in the seasonally adjusted industrial output index for January.
Meanwhile, looking at the month on month data for recession-hit Turkey, the seasonally and calendar adjusted index turned to a positive 1% m/m in January. It was the first m/m positive figure seen since last July.
Read the full story here
S&P raises Bosnia’s outlook for the first time since 2012
Denitsa Koseva in Sofia
Standard & Poor’s said it has upgraded Bosnia & Herzegovina’s outlook to positive from stable, leaving the B rating unchanged – the first im- provement of the country’s outlook since 2012.
Bosnia’s economy was badly damaged by the bloody 1992-1995 war. Despite catching up after the end of the war, the country is still suffering due to constant political tensions, lack of reforms and lack of political will for improvement.
However, in the past few years international insti- tutions have noted that, despite the constant polit- ical crisis, the country has become more resilient and the economy is picking up. Moreover, despite the significant delays, Bosnia is advancing in its
path towards EU official candidate status, which could give another serious boost of the economy.
“The positive outlook reflects our view that, should a government be formed during the course of 2019, BiH's economic prospects could improve beyond our current base-case projections,” S&P noted.
Bosnia held general election in October last year, but so far political parties have failed to form ruling majority at state-level and in the Muslim- Croat Federation. Talks between the main nationalist parties are underway.
Read the full story here