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The Regions This Week
March 1, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
Gyorgy Matolcsy will head Hungary’s central bank the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) for another term. The parliament's economic committee approved Matolcsy’s renomination by 10 votes to five.
Estonians will vote in a general election on March 3. The vote will see outgoing Prime Minister Juri Ratas’s Center Party face the centre-right opposition Reform Party, while both parties will seek to keep the far-right Estonian Conservative People's Party out of power.
Poland’s state-controlled Bank Pekao reported a net profit of PL749.2mn (€173.1mn) in the fourth quarter of 2018, a drop of 28.9% on the year, the bank, Poland’s second-largest lender by assets, announced. The overall net result comes in at 14% above the consensus; net profit also grew 23.7% q/q.
An experimental floating solar photovoltaic power plant will be installed at Lithuania’s 900-MW Kruonis pumped-storage hydroelectric plant. The Lithuanian Business Support Agency is extending a €235,000 grant for the project initiated by state-owned Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba and scientists from Kaunas University of Technology.
Latvia’s state revenue service proposed using Blockchain to combat shady cash flows. Possible applications include cash registers reform, Delfi.lv reported.
South Korea's SK Innovation announced the construction of a second battery plant in northwest Hungary on 112,000 sqm of land from a HUF239bn (€754mn) investment. Hungary is expected to become the largest EV car battery producer in Europe after 2020, with three of the big five Asian battery makers opening plants in the country.
Swiss AI company Business Investigation SA will move its R&D division to Estonia. The company has already opened an Estonian company to handle sales and service in the Baltic and Nordic regions.
Prague remained the seventh richest region
of the European Union in 2017 in terms of GDP per capita, same as in 2016, followed by Slovakia’s Bratislava, according to Eurostat data. Three quarters of the EU population live in regions where GDP per capita is above 75% of the EU average.
Poland's consumer sentiment index grew 0.1 points m/m in February to 5.5, statistical office GUS announced. The index sits 0.7 points lower than in February 2018, data showed. The index’s expansion in January extends the growth series to three months now, reaffirming consumers as the driving force behind Poland’s economic growth.
Slovakia’s Minister of Finance Peter Kazimir will become the governor of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) from June 1, according to the President’s Office. The post of the NBS vice- governor remains unoccupied, as President Andrej Kiska has not yet decided on Jozef Hudak, who is standing for the post.
PPF Investment Group owner, Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, is among the 100 richest people in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2019. Kellner's property, according to the server, rose by 17% y/y to CZK315bn ($14bn) this year.
Lithuania will buy 200 joint light tactical vehicles from the US for €142mn, the defence ministry said. The country’s deputy defence minister
said the vehicles would increase the mobility
of the armed forces, and improve protection of personnel, and combat power.