Page 7 - bne_newspaper_November_16_2018

The Regions This Week
November 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Southeast Europe
Serbia held one of its largest military exercises ever. The event, dubbed The Century of Winners 1918-2018, was intended to mark the 100th an- niversary of the end of World War I, but it also looked like a show of military force amid tensions with neighboring Kosovo.
The Turkish parliament was presented with a
bill to tighten Turkey’s bankruptcy law. If made legislation, it would help prevent the abuse of bankruptcy regulation by some healthy compa- nies, according to the dominant party in Turkey’s ruling coalition, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Romania’s state forecasting body CNP revised downward its GDP forecast for this year to 4.5% in the Autumn Forecast, from 5.5% in the Summer Forecast and 6.1% y/y in the Spring Forecast. But the CNP’s projection for 2019-2020 remains par- ticularly bullish, with growth rates of 5.5% y/y and 5.7% respectively envisaged.
Slovenian development minister Marko Bandelli resigned, as required by the prime minister, after threatening to use his government clout to influ- ence the local elections in the town of Komen. The first departure from the government led by Marjan Sarec revealed how fragile the minority coalition government is.
The European Central Bank will undertake a comprehensive analysis of six Bulgarian banks as part of the procedure for the country’s entry to the banking union. The analysis will include the three biggest banks in the country in terms of as- sets and three other domestically-owned banks.
An initiative to lure Turkish researchers back home will be launched on December 15, Turkey's technology and industry minister said. The Inter- national Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers programme aims to secure the return of top-level researchers for contributions to projects with strategic value.
Nato will invest €50mn to modernise Albania’s idled air base in Kucove and transform it into a military airport that meets Nato standards. This will be the first Nato base in the Western Balkans. Albania became a Nato member back in 2009.
Bosnia’s registered unemployment rate remained unchanged on the month at 35.9% in August. Bos- nia has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the region as the country is still suffering from the consequences of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, which hit all big companies in the country.
A Croatian court ruled that the founder of Croa- tian food and retail giant Agrokor, Ivica Todor-
ic, will remain in investigative custody, one day he was extradited from the UK. Todoric is being inves- tigated in relation to financial irregularities uncov- ered at the group after it entered restructuring.
Montenegro’s government plans to fund its deficit next year mainly with local securities, according to Finance Minister Darko Radunovic. The government of Prime Minister Dusko Markovic has undertaken several measures to cut its public debt, which has risen due to the costs of building the first priority stretch of the key Bar-Boljare motorway.
The European Parliament expressed grave concern about Moldova’s “ruling political lead- ers” colluding with business interests to form an oligarchic group that captured the state and exert their influence over most of Moldova's insti- tutions including the judiciary and the media, in
a new resolution. While mentioned only indirectly, the ruling coalition’s leader Vladimir Plahotniuc
is implied as the head of the “oligarchic interests”.
Finland’s Peikko Group Corporation bought fac- tory premises in Romania and areas of land near Bucharest from the Romanian subsidiary of SSAB and plans to start manufacturing activities in the first quarter of next year. Peikko is a global sup- plier of slim floor structures and connection tech- nology for precast and cast-in-situ applications.