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The Regions This Week
September 1, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Central Europe
The European Commission said there exists
a threat to the rule of law in Poland, refuting the Polish position that the EU executive had no grounds to get involved in the process of judiciary reforms in Poland.
The Czech Statistical Office upgraded the second-quarter GDP growth rate to 4.7% from
a previous assessment of 4.4%, demonstrating the economy’s higher than expected performance.
Polish economic growth accelerated to a sea- sonally adjusted 4.4% y/y in the second quarter, statistics office GUS confirmed. The economy grew 1.1% q/q in seasonally adjusted terms, while unadjusted annual growth came in at 3.9% y/y in the second quarter, GUS noted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held an informal meeting in Budapest with Prime Minister Vik- tor Orban to discuss energy issues. Putin officially came to Budapest for the opening of the World Judo Championships as honorary president of the Inter- national Judo Federation but Russian sources say he was invited by the Hungarian premier personally. This is the second meeting between the two in six months and the eighth since 2010.
Poland's consumer price index grew 1.8% y/y in August, 0.1pp faster than in June, statistics office GUS announced in a flash estimate. The reading shows that the inflation rate picked up speed for a second straight month.
R2G, a Czech private investment group, launched a board-approved takeover bid for Czech artificial textile company Pegas Nonwo- vens on August 25. RTG, which is the second larg- est shareholder with a 10.83% stake, maintained the offer it had unveiled on July 17 of CZK1,010
a share, valuing Pegas at CZK8.9bn ($400mn). Pegas’ directors have approved the bid, calling it “fair” but local brokers Wood & Co, which has a 28.8% stake in Pegas, has indicated it will not ac- cept the current offer.
The Polish purchasing manager’s index (PMI) came in at 52.5 in August, up from 52.3 in July, signalling a further solid upturn of the Polish manufacturing sector.
Estonian GDP expanded 5.7% y/y in the first quarter, which is a six-year high, Statistics Es- tonia announced. The gain is 1.3pp quicker than the growth recorded in the first quarter, further strengthening the outlook for this year after a mediocre 2016.
The Slovak Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) continued its recovery in August, increasing 0.4 point from July to 102.4, reported the Slovak Sta- tistical Office. Confidence in industry in particular soared, rising 7 points.
Hungary's PMI reading rose from 54.2 points
in July to 56.6 points in August, indicating that Hungarian manufacturing remains on solid foot- ing. The index has now signalled expansion for 24 straight months.
The growth of Slovak domestic producer prices continued to slow down in July, rising by 0.7% year on year but falling 0.6% month on month, according to figures released by the country’s statistical office.
The Estonian economic sentiment indicator (ESI) proved the only one to fall in the Baltic region in August, data from the European Commission showed on August 30. The mood in Latvia and Lithuania im- proved. The Estonian ESI fell 2 points to 106.7; Latvia, meanwhile, saw its ESI gain 0.7 points to 107.3, a new 12-month high; Lithuania’s ESI returned to growth
in August after falling the previous month, which followed five straight months of growth.
Hungary’s industrial producer price index (PPI) retreated to 1.2% in July, its lowest level so far this year, according to preliminary data published by the statistics office. The index has dropped steadily since hitting a year-to-date peak of 4.4% in April.