Page 68 - bne_October 2018_20181001

68 I New Europe in Numbers bne October 2018
Romania: Banking System's Profits, NPL ratio [€mn, %]
Romanian banks post stellar profits in H1 while NPL ratio drops
Turkey’s Central Government Budget Balance
Romanian banks achieved €390mn aggregated net profits and a return on assets (ROA) ratio of 1.67% in Q2, slightly improving the records set in Q1 and marking the second-best post-crisis performance, according to bne IntelliNews calculations based on central bank data. The record H1 profits come on top of three years (2015-2017) of aggregated profits posted by Romanian banks.
Banks’ assets increased by 9.0% y/y (6.5% in euros) to RON434.6bn: €93.2bn, less than 52% of GDP and still lagging behind the 56% ratio before the credit crunch at the end of September 2018.
Turkey’s budget deficit expands 563% y/y in August
The Turkish government’s August budget deficit grew 563% y/y to TRY5.8bn (€136mn) following the surplus growth of 22% y/y recorded in July, finance ministry data showed on September 17.
“The budget balance showed some deterioration last month on a yearly basis with a spike in both primary and interest expenditures, despite healthy revenue generation,” Muhammet Mercan of ING Bank said in a research note.
The pace of the real increase in tax revenues lost momentum with a mere 0.6% real growth in August vs 5.7% on a year-to-date basis.
Russia's CBR front-loads key rate to 7.5% to tame the market
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) surprised analysts by hiking its monetary policy rate by 25bp to 7.5% – the central bank’s first increase in interest rates since 2014.
The increase was in reaction to recent emerging market volatility, ruble weakening, and sanction pressure on Russian assets. The last time the CBR hiked rates was an emergency rate hike in 2014 to 17% to steam the meltdown of the ruble after oil prices crashed that November.
The CBR is taking sanction risks seriously as instead of keeping the rate unchanged and resorting to issuing a tougher guidance, it decided to front-load.
Average salary in Czechia hits all time high with 8.6% y/y increase in second quarter
Czechia’s average wage rose by 8.6% in the second quarter of this year y/y to CZK31,851 (€1,238) - the highest in Czechia’s history – according to data released by the Czech Statistical Office on September 4.
In real terms, the rise was 6.2%, which is the second largest growth since 2003. The median value increased by 9.4% to CZK27,236, which is the fastest increase since 2008. The low-paid groups should, for this reason, benefit more from the sharp increase than better-paid ones.
Russia monetary policy rate vs inflation CPI
Czech nominal wages LC
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