Page 5 - bne_newspaper_June_07_2019

The Regions This Week
June 7, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
Danske Bank agreed to sell its portfolio of Estonian private loans to LHV Pank for €410mn, Reuters reported quoting LHV. The Danish lender is pulling out of the Baltic states and Russia following a money laundering scandal centring on its Estonian branch.
Polish GDP growth pushed to an unadjusted 4.7% y/y in the first quarter, a preliminary estimate re- leased by the Central Statistical Office GUS showed. Domestic demand drove the headline result in January-March although its growth pace weakened to 4.2% y/y versus 4.8% y/y in the fourth quarter.
Three-quarters of Czechs are against the adoption of the euro, according to recent research published by the Czech Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM). According to the poll, only 20% of Czechs want to adopt the common European currency while 75% are against.
The European Commission opened an in- depth investigation into Lithuanian support
for energy company AB Lietuvos Energija.
The Commission's investigation concerns an electricity strategic reserve measure, which was in place in Lithuania until 2018, that it suspects could have unduly favoured the company and distorted competition in the EU Single Market.
The government submitted a bill to parliament on June 5 that would relocate the network of research institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) to a government-run body. The bill also stipulates the takeover of the Academy's property, which may violate the Constitution.
Baltic media group Ekspress Grupp bought Latvia’s second-largest entertainment ticket agency Bilešu Paradize. The company, which operates an online ticketing platform, sold tickets for over 7,000 events last year.
The Czech IHS Manufacturing Purchasing Man- agers Index (PMI) continued to slide, falling to
its lowest level of 46.6 since December 2012, the same result as recorded in April, according to a report from IHS Markit. Weak foreign demand led to a third successive monthly drop in employment as well as a decline in backlogs.
Poland's consumer price index (CPI) grew 2.3% y/y in May, adding 0.1pp to the annual reading from April, statistics office GUS announced in a flash estimate. The pick-up is slightly below consensus but broadly in line with projections of CPI growth to accelerate in 2019, possibly until August.
Slovaks’ financial liabilities totalled €36.6bn in 1Q19, according to a report published by Crif– Slovak Credit Bureau (Crif SK). According to the report, 71.3% of the total debt was made up of housing loans and 28.7% of consumer loans.
UK hypermarket chain Tesco remained the largest retailer in Hungary even as it has recorded falling revenues for the second straight year according to the annual list from Trade magazine. Gross revenue of the retailer fell
from HUF809bn (€2.5bn) to HUF769bn in 2018.
Lithuania banned "children's champagne”, as part of a law that makes it illegal to produce or sell food, drinks, toys or other products whose design imitates alcoholic drinks. A similar law is already in place for tobacco products.
The Council of Europe criticised Latvia’s lack of pro- gress in fighting corruption in a new report. Specifi- cally, the council’s anti-corruption group GRECO noted the “lack of measures concerning regulation on lobby- ing, parliamentary ethics and conflicts of interest.”
Slovakia’s retail trade turnover was up by 1.8% in April y/y, driven mostly by higher turnover in the sale of automotive fuels in specialised stores which rose by 12.9%, sales not in stores, stalls or markets (6%) and in sales of food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores (17.8%), according to data from the Slovak Statistics Office.