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The Regions This Week
June 2, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Central Europe
The Slovak Constitutional Court ruled to scrap amnesties that had been granted by former prime minister Vladimir Meciar in 1998 to 13 people sus- pected of involvement in the kidnapping of the son of Michal Kovac, who was president at the time and a bitter rival of Meciar.
The Latvian economy is gaining momentum and its fundamentals are strong, but the Baltic state needs reform to address demographic challenges, the IMF said in a report following a staff mission to the Baltic state. Latvia’s economic growth is pick- ing up speed and is expected at 3.25% in 2017.
Estonia expelled two Russian diplomats. Though the Baltic state’s foreign ministry did not explain its reasons for sending back Consul General Dmitry Kazennov and Consul Andrey Surgaev to Russia, dip- lomatic tensions have been escalating between the two countries. An Estonian court recently sentenced a Russian national to a five-year prison sentence on the grounds of espionage for the Russian armed forces.
The recent political crisis in the Czech Republic dented confidence in the president and the gov- ernment, according to a poll. While the party of billionaire Andrej Babis, Ano, lost some support during the crisis, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobot- ka’s CSSD fell close to 20 points behind its coali- tion partner just five months ahead of scheduled elections. President Milos Zeman appears another major loser of the scandal.
Investment flows into Czech commercial real estate almost doubled in annual terms in the first quarter of 2017 to total €1.57bn, Colliers Inter- national research showed. Yields on the Czech market have been pushing to historic lows over the past couple of years, as cheap financing and the hunt for yield herds investors into CEE property.
The Czech government, unions and businesses failed to agree a new minimum wage for 2018 at the latest round of talks. Any hike in the minimum wage next year would be the sixth in as many years.
Hungarian investment surged 34% y/y in the first quarter, the quickest pace on record. The huge gain stems from the low base last year, which suf- fered from a sharp slowdown in the absorption of EU funds and a drop of 20% in investment in 2016. However, public projects powered by EU money are now back on track.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban outlined ambitious new family policies as a way to chal- lenge Hungary’s deteriorating demographics. The government’s aim is to increase the number of child births by 30,000 per year by 2030.
South Korean electronics producer Samsung SDI opened an electric vehicle battery plant in Hun- gary. Samsung has invested more than HUF100bn (€324mn) to convert a factory in God, near Buda- pest, where it formerly produced TVs. The switch will see enough batteries produced each year to supply 50,000 electric vehicles.
Pallas Athene, the controversial foundation run by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, has purchased two heritage-listed buildings on the prestigious An- drassy Ut in downtown Budapest for €14.9mn. The deal further boosts the foundation’s stock of real estate in its investment portfolio.
Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank Interna- tional must sell a 15% stake in Raiffeisen Pol- bank via IPO by end of June, the Polish financial regulator KNF confirmed. The KNF was reacting to reports that RBI is seeking to delay the float due to continued risks attached to the valuation of Pol- bank’s mortgage portfolio, as well as weak results that could hold back demand.
State-controlled Polish bank PKO BP has opened
a Eurobond programme worth €3bn. The Euro Medium Term Notes (EMTN) programme assumes issuance of €3bn worth of senior unsecured and subordinated bonds denominated in euro, the US dollar, the Swiss franc, or the Polish zloty. The bonds will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.