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The Regions This Week
June 14, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Southeast Europe
A constitutional crisis erupted as two rival governments are installed in Moldova. The parliament endorsed a new government led by Maia Sandu of the pro-EU ACUM bloc, that has since been recognised by EU nations and Russia, but the outgoing government is refusing to leave its offices.
The Western Balkans saw an increase in FDI in the last year, according to data from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), that was in contrast to the trends of declining FDI both globally and in the wider Central, Southeast and Eastern Europe region.
Romania may be unable to pay public sector salaries by the end of the year, it was revealed in a leaked letter from Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici that asked ministries to “reduce the number of employees and/or the total salaries”. The letter was published shortly after Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea announced that the Romanian capital is under “undeclared bankruptcy”, and asked Teodorovici for an additional €250mn for the municipality.
Albania’s governing Socialist Party said it will attempt to impeach President Ilir Meta after the president signed a decree cancelling the June 30 local elections. Meta said conditions do not exist for “true, democratic, representative and all- inclusive elections”, following months of protests and an opposition boycott.
Marka Holding suspended plans to buy now- defunct Turk Ticaret Bankasi from Turkey’s Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). “We have decided to shelve our plans to buy the bank for the time being due to developments inside the company and volatility in Turkey,” Marka Holding said in a filing with the Istanbul stock exchange.
Slovenia had the fastest rising house prices
in the world in the first quarter of 2019 with average values rising 18.2% y/y, according to
a report from Knight Frank. European countries account for six of the top ten in the first quarter with Hungary (9.2%) making its fourth consecutive appearance in the top ten rankings.
German automotive components supplier
ZF Friedrichshafen opened a €160mn factory in the Serbian town of Pancevo. The plant will produce axles for electric gears for E-Mobility for Premium OEM, electric traction engines for E-Mobility, gearshift electronics and mechatronics, as well as microswitches/PCB.
An award winning Croatian tour company said
it will no longer work with cruise companies
or their passengers. The decision followed a damning report from environmental consultancy Transport & Environment that revealed toxic sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions from cruise ships on European routes are many times higher than the entire SOx emissions from the continent’s car fleet.
Twelve Turkish banks are to offer companies
a total of Turkish lira TRY25bn ($4.31bn) as part of a Treasury-backed loan package, banking association TBB said. Ankara is using such packages to boost Turkey’s enfeebled economy, brought low by last summer’s currency crisis.
Bulgaria expects that the official proposal from the US for the sale of F-16 fighter jets will arrive within a week, ClubZ reported, quoting Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov. Earlier in June, the US approved the possible sale of eight F-16 aircraft and related equipment at an estimated cost of $1.67bn, but Sofia said that is ready to pay no more than $1.2bn.