Page 5 - bne_newspaper_March_9_2018

The Regions This Week
March 9, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have been reportedly barred from meeting US President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence as long as Warsaw keeps its highly controversial “Holocaust speech law.
“Hiking interest rates is completely unlikely in the current macroeconomic environment,” said Adam Glapinski, governor of the National Bank of Poland, adding that there is little to indicate that there will be a hike in the rates in 2019 or even in 2020.
Czech car group Skoda Auto, part of Germany's Volkswagen, says it could create 3,000 new jobs at its main hub in Mlada Boleslav if unions agree to a 18-shift working system, including Saturday as a full working day. Unions have so far rejected working Saturdays. The company has announced an investment of €2bn into producing electric cars and digitalisation and a plan of territorial expansion.
Czech unemployment dropped to 3.7% in February from 3.9% in January. In Czechia, approximately 280,900 persons were unemployed, which is the lowest number in February since 1997. In y/y terms, the drop is by 1.4 percentage points.
Slovak gross domestic product rose by 3.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017, and by 0.9% quarter-on-quarter, according to updated data.
The average Slovak nominal salary per
month peaked a €954 in 2017. This represents an increase of 4.6%. In Q4 2017, the average salary grew y/y by 5.2% to €1,041.
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on March 6 he was standing by "every sin- gle word" of his criticism of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after calling him a rac-
ist and a xenophobe. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein also rejected a demand by Hungary's Foreign Minister for his resignation.
The European Court of Justice
ruled that Hungarian legislation terminating usufruct contracts with foreign beneficiaries violates the European Union principle of the free movement of capital. Hungarian Parliament passed legislation in 2013, just before the 10- year exemption expired for foreigners to buy land in Hungary, that terminated certain usufruct
or "pocket" contracts conferring the rights to
use and profit from Hungarian farmland to EU citizens.
Hungarian inflation slowed from 2.1% in Janu- ary to 1.9% last month. On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.2%.
Hungary’s industrial output increased 6.9% y/y in January, rebounding from a 0.5% y/y drop in the previous month.
Latvia's consumer price index (CPI) grew 1.8% y/y in February. The reading means price growth slowed from the 2% y/y growth rate recorded in January.
Latvia’s current account showed a surplus of €113mn in the fourth quarter, following a deficit of €301mn in the third quarter. In annual terms, the surplus grew 189% in October-December.
The Lithuanian consumer price index (CPI) gained 3.5% y/y in February, shedding 0.5pp against the annual reading from the previous month.
Estonia's current account showed a surplus
of €734mn in 2017 – a growth of 83.4% versus 2016 – representing 3.2% of GDP. In the fourth quarter, the current account was also in surplus, at €274.2mn, marking a growth of 3.3% q/q and 243.2% on the year.