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The Regions This Week
December 14, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Central Europe
Krisjanis Karins, the leader of New Unity, the smallest party in the atomised parliament, emerged as a potential compromise candidate for Latvia’s new prime minister. The crisis of government formation is now in its third month after three PM candidates failed to agree a multi- party coalition cabinet since the election in early October produced a parliament of seven parties.
Slovakia’s Finance Minister Peter Kazimir will become the country’s central bank governor in March 2019, after parliamentary approval was given on December 6. Kazimir said he wished to withdraw from active politics.
Latvia’s consumer price index (CPI) grew 3% y/y in November, data released by the country’s Cen- tral Statistical Bureau (CSB) showed. Inflation has now grown in y/y terms for 27 months straight.
Poland’s state-controlled power companies are facing a “climate fee” of PLN1bn (€233mn) to be paid into a special fund the government will cre- ate to cover the cost of the rising energy prices for households and smaller companies next year, the minister of energy said.
MCF Group will invest $113.6m in a data centre in Estonia. The first phase of the project, funded by a group of private investors from Estonia and Finland, will be started in the first quarter of 2019.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis will remain on the list of the former Communist secret po- lice StB agents in Slovakia, after a complaint he filed against the Slovak Republic with the Euro- pean Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was rejected. Babis, who was born in Slovakia, appealed to the ECHR in June, arguing that his rights were violat- ed during the proceedings before Slovak courts.
The Lithuanian consumer price index (CPI) grew 2.5% y/y in November, 0.4pp below the annual reading in the preceding month, Statistics Lithua-
nia said on December 10. The annual price growth in November extends the inflationary trend in the Lithuanian CPI to 35 months.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Slovak electricity utility company Slovenske elektrarne signed a €60mn loan agreement to boost safety of the nuclear power plants in Jaslovske Bohunice (west Slovakia) and Mochovce (southeast Slova- kia). The aim of the contract is to support nuclear safety in Slovakia.
Hungary had a €293mn trade surplus in Octo- ber, falling from €535mn a year earlier, accord- ing to preliminary figures. The underlying trend behind the narrowing of the trade surplus since the middle of 2016 has been the rise of import heavy investments and private consumption, but in recent months the weaker growth in Hungary’s export markets was often cited as the major fac- tor behind the slower exports.
The Lithuanian parliament passed the budget for 2019. The budget raises spending on defence to up to 2.05% of GDP, but does not raise the wages of teachers, who have gone on strike to demand higher pay.
Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Aircraft Indus- tries is considering reviving its L610 aircraft production project, the company’s general direc- tor Ilona Plskova said. The L610, a four-seat civil- ian aircraft, was supposed to be launched in the 1980s, but it never went into production.
The Estonian trade deficit widened 45.3% y/y
to €199mn in October, Statistics Estonia re- ported. Despite exports registering robust growth, internal demand drove imports still higher to the biggest value this year so far, data showed.