Page 5 - bne_newspaper_March_30_2018

The Regions This Week
March 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
With days to go before Hungary’s general election, the campaign got dirtier as the press released yet another explosive story targeting the ruling Fidesz party. In the latest scandal, daily Magyar Nemzet reported that the FBI has a Hungarian citizen in its witness protection programme who could be a key figure in a wide scale money laundering network that embezzled €3bn-€4bn of EU funds.
A crowd of an estimated 55,000 people –
mostly women – protested in Warsaw against apparent plans to push through an amendment to the current abortion law that would ban termination due to foetal abnormality. Tens of other Polish cities and towns also saw protests in a demonstration of defiance against the conservative forces in power in Poland.
Construction prices in Latvia grew 3.5% y/y in February, data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) showed. The reading sees costs in the construction sector maintain the annual growth rate seen in January.
In 2016 Chinese investments in Czechia reached less than one-fifth of the €3.7bn President Milos Zeman promised the country would receive during the year. The failure of Czechia to secure the sums of money promised by Zeman has political as well as economic implications, as many Czechs are concerned about Chinese influence over their president.
Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa Corp laid the cornerstone of an electric vehicle battery plant in northeast Hungary. Together with investments by South Korean SK Innovation and Samsung SDI,
the project will help propel Hungary to become the largest EV car battery producer in Europe after 2020.
63% of foreign companies are satisfied with
the current economic situation in Slovakia, according to a survey conducted by the Slovak- German Trade and Industry Chamber (SNOPK). A year ago, the situation was evaluated positively by only 45% of foreign companies.
Private equity investor Polish Enterprise Fund VII will buy Croatian baker and retailer Pan-Pek. The fund, managed by Enterprise Investors, signed an agreement to acquire a 65% stake in Pan-Pek.
Czech GDP rose by 4.5% in 2017, marking the biggest annual expansion in the last decade.
The main drivers in the first half of the year were domestic consumption and foreign demand. In the second half of 2017, investment activities helped the strong economic boom.
Continued demonstrations showed that many Slovaks are determined to force deep changes
in the country’s politics, and are not satisfied
with a new government with an old manifesto as a solution to the political crisis. The appointment of the new government did, however, seem to have at least calmed down the political crisis.
Lithuanian retail sales growth slowed down
to an unadjusted 2.9% y/y in February at constant prices, Statistics Lithuania reported.
The slowdown – the first since September – is consistent with forecasts predicting retail turnover is bound to lose some of the growth dynamics displayed for much of 2017.
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