Page 5 - bne_newspaper_December_08_2017

The Regions This Week
December 8, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
Poland’s ruling rightwing populist party
Law and Justice (PiS) party dismissed Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and will replace her
with the current deputy premier and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The move clearly displayed who is really pulling the strings inside the PiS, where government leadership has diverged from party decision-making.
Hungary-based budget airline Wizz Air set an ambitious target of boosting passenger traffic to 100mn within the next 10 years and a three-fold increase in the number of aircraft and workforce. Founded in 2003, Wizz Air has become the largest no-frills airline in Central and Eastern Europe.
The number of job vacancies in Estonia grew 15% y/y in the third quarter to 12,700, Estonian Statistics reported. The reading means the annual growth in the number of free posts on the Estonian labour market remains strong, although the growth rate was slower than the 26% y/y surge seen in April-June.
Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak has survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, thus keeping his post. This is the third time Kalinak has survived a no-confidence vote.
Lithuanian GDP grew an adjusted 3.4% y/y in the third quarter of 2017, Statistics Lithuania confirmed. Dynamic growth in investment made up for weaker expansion of household consumption, the key driver so far.
Polish real estate investment group Griffin Real Estate has signed a €1bn deal to buy a portfolio of 28 retail properties in Poland. The deal includes re-selling part of the portfolio to Echo Polska Properties (EPP) for €692mn.
Hungarian industrial output accelerated to 7.4% y/y in October from the 5.4% increase
in the previous month, according to raw and adjusted data from the statistics office KSH. The first estimated showed a monthly 1.2% growth from September.
Latvia’s current account showed a deficit of €301mn in the third quarter, a 47.5% q/q increase on the deficit of €201mn in the second quarter, the Bank of Latvia reported. At 4.2% of GDP, the deficit is the biggest since the third quarter of 2012.
Tourist visits in Estonia grew just 1% y/y
to 271,100 in October, Statistics Estonia announced. Following the pronounced growth
of 10% y/y in the previous month, tourist traffic eased after the summer season came to an end.
The Czech Republic should stay close to the European Union’s core, presidential candidate Jiri Drahos said in an interview with Reuters. Talk of holding a referendum on leaving the bloc is dangerous, added Drahos, 68, is set to mount the main challenge to Kremlin-friendly populist incumbent Milos Zeman.
Hungary should establish the foundations of sustainable economic growth under the current period of relatively rapid growth, economic research group GKI, citing calls by international organisations. Although the 3.8% GDP growth
in the third quarter exceeded the EU average of 2.5%, it is among the lowest in the CEE region.
Slovak/Czech financial group Penta Investments is reportedly poised to acquire A&D Pharma, the largest pharma group on the Romanian market. This would be Penta's second attempt to take over the Romanian pharma company, after previous negotiations failed more than five years ago.