Page 5 - bne IntelliNews weekly newspaper June 23

The Regions This Week
June 23, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
The Czech Republic must strengthen its ef- forts to fight bribery, the OECD said in a report evaluating the country’s implementation of action regarding the bribery of foreign officials. Seven- teen years after ratifying the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the Czech Republic has yet to pros- ecute a case involving the bribery of foreign public officials, the international institution claims.
The Czech Republic is a standout in terms of tolerance of homosexuality amongst CEE coun- tries, where 77% of young people under the age of 39 accept same-sex marriage and 58% of the over 40s do – well in excess of the regional me- dian of 23% of those ages 18 to 39 who favour same-sex marriage, compared with 12% of those 40 and older, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of adults in 18 CEE countries.
Siemens will invest CZK7bn (€267mn) to 2024
in refitting its Czech plants, the German indus- trial giant announced. Siemens will also create a new development centre for electric motors in the eastern city of Ostrava. The investments should create around 1,800 new jobs of which around a third should be in research and development and managerial positions.
Czech-based energy holding EPH expanded its UK asset portfolio by agreeing to buy two com- bined cycle gas turbine power stations from UK utility Centrica for £318mn. EPH will buy the Lan- gage and South Humber Bank CCGT power sta- tions, which have a combined capacity of 2.3GW.
Czech energy group CEZ took over the op- erational onshore wind farm Lettweiler Hohe in Germany, with a total installed capacity of 35.4MW. The company said late last year that it planned to spend hundreds of billions of euro to build a 120MW wind power portfolio in Germany over the next five years.
A preliminary ban placed on Uber in the Czech Republic’s second city of Brno was overturned
on appeal, opening the way for the ride-sharing service to resume operations in Brno for the meantime. The Brno court had ruled that Uber drivers could not provide services without a taxi permit and all cars must be marked as taxis and feature a taximeter.
The fall in Slovak unemployment accelerated
to a record low in May. The unemployment rate fell 0.39pp m/m and 2.1pp y/y to 7.35% in the fifth month of the year, quicker than the improvements recorded in April.
Poland’s budget deficit came in at PLN203mn (€48mn) in January-May, or just 0.3% of the assumption for the entire year, the Ministry of Finance reported. Poland’s budget bill assumes a deficit of PLN59.3bn in 2017, equal to 2.9% of the country’s GDP, but data so far suggest that increased income from tax – especially VAT – may lead to a lower gap.
Polish retail sales grew 7.4% y/y at constant prices in May. The reading marks a pick-up in the pace of growth of retail sales over the 6.4% an- nual growth seen in April.
Polish industrial production returned to fast growth, expanding 9.1% y/y in May. After seasonal adjustment, industrial growth came in at 6.5% y/y in May. Industrial production grew 5.5% m/m in unadjusted terms and 1.2% seasonally adjusted.
The shareholders of the Warsaw Stock Exchange appointed a new CEO. Marek Dietl, an advisor to President Andrzej Duda, is expected to take over at the helm of the bourse after approval by the financial regulator KNF.
Play Communications, the owner of the second biggest Polish mobile operator P4, said it plans an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, without speci- fying the timing of the offering. The planned float will consist of an offering of existing shares in Poland and an international offering, the company said.