Page 70 - BNE_magazine_bne_September 2019

70 I New Europe in Numbers bne September 2019
Russia gross intl reserves vs monetary gold, national welfare fund
Russia's National Welfare Fund doubled in July to $124bn
Population change in the EU Member States during 2018
(per 1000 residents)
Russia's National Welfare Fund (NWF) doubled in July, increasing by RUB4.105 trillion, to RUB7.868 trillion, and in dollars terms
by $64.479bn, to $124.137bn, the Ministry of Finance of Russia reported on August 2.
As of July 1, 2019, the amount of the fund was RUB3.763 trillion, which was equivalent to $59.658bn.
The sudden rise was caused by the Ministry of Finance adding cash to the NWF it siphons off from oil revenues as part of its sterilising process into temporary accounts.
Fastest shrinking EU states are from Southeast Europe and the Baltics
The fastest shrinking EU member states in 2018 were all new members from the Central and Southeast Europe region, new data from Eurostat shows.
Latvia experienced the steepest fall in population last year, shrinking by 7.5%, followed by Croatia and Bulgaria (both 7.1%), Romania (6.6%) and Lithuania (5.3%). Hungary and Poland experienced more modest declines in their populations.
But overall the population of the 28-member bloc increased to 513.5mn, up from 512.4mn a year earlier due to migration, as more deaths than births were recorded in the EU during 2018, for the second consecutive year. Countries with the largest negative natural population decline were Bulgaria (6.6%), Latvia (4.9%), Lithuania (4.1%), Croatia, Hungary and Romania (all 3.9%).
Ukraine's real wage growth accelerates to 8% y/y in June
Real wages in Ukraine grew by 8.1% year-on-year in June, accelerating from 7% y/y growth in May, the nation's state statistics service Ukrstat reported on July 29.
The average monthly nominal wage amounted to UAH10,783 a month ($407), increasing from UAH10,239 in May, or 5.8% month-on-month in real terms.
Number of foreign visitors to Albania jumps by 27% y/y in June
The number of foreigners arriving in Albania jumped by 27% y/y to 630,334 in June, after rising by 1.7% a year earlier, data from the statistics institute INSTAT indicated on July 23. Travel and tourism in Albania, a country with Adriatic and Ionian Sea coastlines, accounts for 8.4% of the country’s GDP.
In June, the number of domestic tourists went up 8.1% y/y to 450,130, bringing the total number of tourists to 1,080,464 (+18.4%). In the first six foreign tourists arrivals increased by 11.3% y/y to 2,136,952, mostly from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece, Italy and Montenegro.
Ukraine gross average wages monthly USD equivalent
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