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Southeast Europe
November 24, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
Turkey’s annual inflation moved up from 11.2% in September to 11.9% in October, the steepest level recorded since October 2008.
“Everything... points to overheating — but Turkish policy makers seem to be in denial,” Ash said.
The central bank tightened liquidity by restricting overnight borrowing limits.
“Banks’ borrowing limits at the Central Bank Interbank Money Market for overnight
Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors freeze assets of ruling party leader
Iulian Ernst in Bucharest
Prosecutors from Romania’s National Anticorrup- tion Directorate (DNA) froze the assets of senior ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea, who also serves as the Chamber of Deputies speaker and informal leader of the ruling coalition, on November 21.
Assets worth RON127.5mn (€28mn) were frozen as the DNA initiated criminal investigations against Dragnea and several other people in a case related to public contracts awarded to Tel Drum construction company.
Dragnea is suspected of setting up and coordinat- ing a criminal group with the aim of siphoning money from EU-funded projects coordinated by Teleorman county council, which he headed at the time the group was set up in 2001.
The group allegedly coordinated the county
transactions have been reduced to zero effective as of November 22,” the national lender explained in a statement. The banks’ limit for intraday liquidity would also be increased, it said.
“The weighted average cost of funding [as a result of the measures] would be increased to 12.25% on November 22, up from 11.99% on November 20,” an official from the central bank told Reuters. According to the official, all funding would be made via the late liquidity window for which the central bank moved up to 12.25% in April.
council’s auctions with Tel Drum officials with
the aim of helping the latter win lucrative road rehabilitation contracts. The formal owner of Tel Drum, Fiscuci Marian, is only an intermediary for Dragnea, prosecutors claimed. They also said the criminal group is still active.
In total, the company was awarded €90mn worth of public contracts. The value of the assets frozen by DNA prosecutors was calculated as the sum of the contracts awarded under allegedly fraudulent circumstances.
Dragnea has denied the accusations, saying he is no way connected to Tel Drum.
A key ally of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader, Sevil Shaideh, recently came under investigation by the DNA on suspicion of abuse of