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The Regions This Week
October 20, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Southeast Europe
The ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedo- nia (SDSM) scored a landslide victory in the first local elections since it came to power. Previously, most local governments were under the control of the rival VMRO-DPMNE, which went into opposi- tion in May after a decade in power.
Slovenia’s finance minister will try to persuade EU officials to postpone the deadline by which Ljubljana has to sell off NLB. Plans for an IPO of Slovenia’s largest bank were dropped in June amid a dispute over the pricing of the offer and an ongo- ing lawsuit over Yugoslav-era deposits in Croatia.
Albania’s first private stock exchange will start working by yearend after getting the green light from the country’s central bank. The opening of the bourse is highly important for the financial market in Albania, the only country in the region aside from neighbour- ing Kosovo that does not yet have a stock exchange.
More than 5,000 employees of the Romanian public healthcare sector protested on October 19 against the government’s plans to transfer social security contributions from employers to employ- ees. Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu has admitted that most of a promised 25% pay hike will be cancelled out by the policy.
The largest wind farm project in the Western Balkans will receive €215mn loans from the EBRD and IFC. The Cibuk wind farm in Serbia will help the country meet its commitment to produce 27% of domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.
56% of Bulgarians think that Deputy Prime Min- ister Valeri Simeonov must resign after he ver- bally threatened a popular talk show host in a live studio discussion. Another politician, who threat- ened the same host, has already stepped down.
Former Albanian interior minister Saimir Tahiri was accused of links with drug traffickers after his name was mentioned in a series of wiretapped
recordings revealed by Italian media. Prosecutors have asked MPs to strip Tahiri, who denies the ac- cusations, of his parliamentary immunity.
The parliament of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Re- publika Srpska passed a resolution proclaiming its military neutrality. The non-binding resolu- tion opposes the country's potential membership in Nato, provoking yet another political crisis in the already unstable country.
Croatian police launched criminal investiga- tions into 15 people connected to troubled food and retail giant Agrokor. Several former Agrokor executives were detained but the group’s founder Ivica Todoric, who is wanted in connection with the case, has left the country along with his son Ante, a prominent Agrokor board member.
Kosovans are heading to the polls for municipal elections on October 22. Most say they plan to vote the same way as in the June general election, which saw a shift from established parties to left- wing nationalist Vetevendosje.
Romania’s largest private healthcare provider MedLife agreed to buy its competitor Polisano medical services. The acquisition will help Medlife, which carried out an IPO last year, to further strengthen its position on the Romanian private medical services market.
The World Bank raised its projections for Bul- garia’s economic growth for 2017 and 2018 to 3.8% and 3.9% respectively, backed by strong consump- tion and the rising investment rate. Household consumption is likely to continue expanding on the back of further improvements in labour market and credit conditions, the World Bank said.
German automotive cable manufacturer Leoni AG plans to build a fourth factory in Serbia. Le- oni is among the largest employers in the manu- facturing sector in Serbia, where it has invested €55mn so far.