Page 6 - bne_newspaper_November_23_2018

The Regions This Week
November 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
The Polish financial market regulator KNF launched an internal probe after its former head was accused of corruption by a banker, the watchdog's acting head said. Former boss Marek Chrzanowski was accused by billionaire banker Leszek Czarnecki of soliciting a bribe in return for KNF’s favourable approach to a Czarnecki- controlled bank, Getin Noble Bank.
Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis is reportedly considering two new candidates for the post of prime minister after the failure of a government formation exercise of the conservatives’ leader last week. The general election in early November produced a largely fragmented parliament.
Hungarian businessman Gabor Szeles is plan- ning a large-scale tourism investment at the Zala Springs Golf Resort, Hungary’s largest 18- hole golf course. Szeles is planning to invest HUF77bn (€239mn) in the coming years in what will be one of the largest tourism investments in the CEE region.
Estonia's producer price index (PPI) grew 2.8% y/y in September, according to data released by Statistics Estonia . The headline figure comes 0.1pp below the 2.9% annual expansion in Sep- tember, extending the current trend of PPI infla- tion to 25 months.
Czech President Milos Zeman appointed Czech National Bank (CNB) board members Ales Michl and Tomas Holub and two vice-governors Mark Mora and Tomas Nidetzky. The CNB's board consisting of seven members determines the country's monetary policy and decides on major monetary policy measures.
Lithuania banned government officials from using Yandex.Taxi. The government said analysts
had found the Russian owned service, known as “Russia’s Uber”, was sending users' data to Russia.
Spain’s Talgo won the contract to supply new passenger trains to Latvia, beating rivals from the Czech Republic and Poland as well as another Spanish contender. Talgo will supply 32 electric trains for a total of €225.3mn.
Slovak Economics Minister Peter Ziga said that
Slovakia's government is ready to support Kia Motors Slovakia’s investments in 4.0 industry and in vehicles with alternative fuels. Built between 2004-2006, the Kia plant in Slovakia is Kia Motors Corporation’s only European manufacturing facility.
Cargo turnover at Hungary’s largest airport reached an all time record of 13,300 tonnes in October, up 23% y/y. Turnover at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport in the first 10 months of 2018 came to 120,600 tonnes, up 16% y/y, just shy of the 127,000 tonnes reached for the full-year in 2017.
Poland's consumer sentiment index fell 0.9 points m/m in October to 5.2, statistical office GUS announced. The fall in November, although the second in a row, is still too insignificant and does not constitute a series long enough to allow speculation that consumers – the driving force behind Poland’s ongoing economic boom – are about to spend less in an environment of rising wages and a tightening labour market.
The average mortgage rate in the Czech Repub- lic rose to 2.66% in October from 2.57% in Sep- tember, according to Fincentrum Hypoindex data. The mortgage volume reached its highest level in October as an after-effect of the central bank's tightening of mortgages rules. It may continue to rise this year, analysts anticipate.