Page 5 - bne Newspaper 170317

The Regions This Week
March 17, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
The European Commission signalled that Rus- sian gas giant Gazprom has made enough con- cessions for it to drop its competition probe.
The move has angered CEE states, which have in the past fought legal battles over the price and conditions contained in long-term contracts with Gazprom, and argue that Moscow uses its domi- nant position to maintain political leverage across the region.
Growth in new passenger car registrations in the EU slowed sharply in February to 2.2% y/y, data released by the European Automobile Manu- facturers Association showed. The result tempers somewhat the optimism regarding the perfor- mance of the car-dependent Visegrad economies in the first quarter of the year.
The Czech competition office will probe the mo- bile voice and data market for signs of collusion between competitors. Parties across the politi- cal spectrum have recently taken up the cause of consumers, who have been paying some of the highest charges in Europe for years.
The Czech current account recorded a huge surplus of CZK29.4bn (€1.09bn) in January, the Czech National Bank reported. The reading was a sharp rebound compared with the deficit of CZK22bn produced in December, albeit 2016 still saw a record high cumulative excess of CZK73bn, or 1.6% of GDP.
The Slovak government is planning to scrap amnesties issued by former prime minister Vladimir Meciar in 1998 to 13 people suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of the son of then president Michal Kovac. Meciar extended the amnesties – a presidential prerogative – in the interregnum between the presidency of Kovac and Rudolf Schuster, when he temporarily assumed the presidential powers.
Slovak inflation accelerated again in February, rising to 1.2% y/y from January’s 0.7% reading.
The result shows Slovak prices continuing a rapid climb after escaping a long deflation trend.
Enea acquired a 100% stake in Engie Energia Polska – the Polish business of French power company Engie – for PLN1.26bn (€290mn), the state-controlled Polish utility said. The deal sees Poland broaden its control over the energy sector, in line with ongoing government policy that de- mands strategic branches of the economy should see more state involvement.
A Polish prosecutor summoned President of the European Council Donald Tusk to testify as a witness in a probe involving the suspected unau- thorised cooperation of Polish and Russian coun- terintelligence services in 2010. The summons is widely seen as part of the Law and Justice gov- ernment’s campaign against the former Polish premier.
Poland’s current account recorded a surplus of over PLN10.7bn (€2.49bn) in January, the Na- tional Bank of Poland (NBP) reported. The surplus is the highest since at least 2004, and was driven by the inflow of the EU funds from the Common Agricultural Policy.
PKN Orlen posted net profit of PLN5.4bn (€1.25bn) in 2016, nearly four times higher than the result in 2015, the Polish state-controlled oil and gas group said.
The Hungarian parliament voted for President Janos Ader to serve a second five-year term as the country's president. A long-time ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ader easily achieved the simple majority required from Hungary's 199 MPs in the second round of voting.
Hungary’s industrial production increased 6.5% y/y in January, according to the second estimate data published by the statistics office (KSH). The reading shows a return to expansion after output dropped 0.5% y/y in December.