Page 8 - BNE_magazine_11_2019

8 I The Month That Was bne November 2019
Business
Eastern Europe
Russia began filling the first of the TurkStream gas pipeline’s two strings with gas on October 18, in preparation for its operational launch. “This is the final step in the commissioning of the pipeline,” project operator South Stream Transport, a subsidiary of Gazprom, said in a statement. TurkStream runs from Russia for 930km along the bed of the Black Sea, terminating in Turkey’s western Thrace region. Its first string will supply up to 15.75bn cubic metres of gas per year to Turkish consumers, while its second will run further, passing through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
Central Europe
Hungary's utility-scale solar power capacity reached 1.1GW at the end
of June, up from 726MW at the end of 2018, the latest data from the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Agency (MEKH) show. The combined capacity of solar panels installed on homes rose to 388.5MW from 332MW during the same period, MEKH said.
The energy office noted it has issued resolutions subsidising the addition of a further 1.4GW of solar power capacity, which will be installed in the coming years.
Czech R&D expenditures grew by CZK12.3bn (€447.5mn) year-on-year to a record CZK102.8bn (€3.9bn)
in 2018, accounting to 1.93% of GDP, stems from data published by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) on October
16. 113,500 people were employed, both as part-time or full-time, in the R&D
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sector in the country, up by 20,000 over the last five years.
Czech property prices increased from 9.6% in 1Q19 to 8.7% year-on-year in 2Q19, the sixth highest growth rate
in the EU, says Eurostat. Compared to 1Q19 when the annual growth in the country was the second highest, the Czech property prices grew by 2.1%. “Despite some slowdown from the 13% peak seen in 2017, Czech property price growth has remained solidly above the EU28 average growth of 4.4%,” said ING Chief Economist Jakub Seidler.
Southeast Europe
Volkswagen has reportedly postponed its final decision on whether to
build a $1.1bn car plant in Turkey
as international criticism of the country’s military operation in Syria mounts, causing the carmaker to worry about potential reputational fallout should it commit to the investment.
Turkey’s combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in September are expected to soar 100% on an annual basis to exceed 40,000 units, thanks to lower borrowing costs, Turkish business daily Dunya
has reported. This month the country’s three state-owned lenders slashed their monthly interest rates charged on loans for made-in-Turkey cars. The trio of banks signed agreements with several passenger car and LCV producers.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea laid the foundation stone on October 17 of its first store in Slovenia, located in BTC
shopping district in Ljubljana, media reported. The total investment in the store is expected to reach about €90mn and the store is to be completed next year. The 31,000 square metre shop is expected to employ around 300 people, STA reported.
The Moldova government and telecom market regulator ANRCETRI plan
to issue an operating license for the 800MHz band in the separatist republic of Transnistria to Interdnestrkom (IDC), part of Sheriff holding, Moldova’s largest mobile telecom operators Orange Moldova and Moldcell revealed in
a white paper criticising the plans, as reported by Mold Street.
Eurasia
Production of oil and gas condensate at Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field has declined since October 6 due
to unplanned maintenance, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said. According to anonymous industry sources, the drop in production was due to a loss of pressure at one compressor followed by maintenance. Daily output at Kashagan has fallen to an average of 40,300 tonnes (294,000 barrels) from 50,000 tonnes (365,000 barrels) in early October, according to the sources.
The Agency for the Recovery
of Criminal Assets (ARBI) and
the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Centre (CNA) have seized assets worth MDL670mn (€34.5mn) of airline Air Moldova, including automobiles, real estate properties and two aircraft, CNA said on October 3.