Page 57 - bne magazine November 2021_20211104 uzbekistan risding

bne November 2021
The problem is a global one. As noted
in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) blog: “The economic recovery has fuelled a rapid acceleration in inflation this year for advanced and emerging market economies, driven by firming demand, supply shortages and rapidly rising commodity prices."
The fund noted large price movements in some sectors, notably food, transportation, clothing and communications, and
it expects several more months of
higher inflation, especially in emerging economies, before it returns to pre- pandemic levels by mid-2022.
“Food prices around the world jumped by about 40% during the pandemic,
an especially acute challenge for low- income countries where such purchases
Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for the largest share of Albanians’ average monthly expenditure at ALL34,713, or 41.6% of the overall household budget, according to recent data from the state statistics office, Instat.
The average monthly consumption expenditures of an Albanian household stood at ALL83,475 (€675) in 2020, with the average household numbering 3.6 people.
While Albania is so far the only Southeast European country to have erupted into protests, others are struggling with the same price increases, and warn of more to come.
In North Macedonia, manufacturers said that a dramatic increase in food
Southeast Europe I 57 PM Zoran Zaev said that it is “an
exaggeration” to say that prices
will increase by 50%, as inflation is controlled at the level of up to 2.7%.
“It can be a problem if inflation exceeds 10%. As an open market and dependent on European market, we cannot be isolated from the world. The price of electricity is also a major indicator of rising prices,” Zaev said.
In Bosnia, pensioners in the Bosnian Federation have threatened to protest unless pensions are raised, reported the Sarajevo Times in late September. They cited the increase in the price of essential foodstuffs. 60% of pensioners in the Federation get a minimum pension of BAM380 a month.
In Serbia, the government has been trying to reassure the population over rising energy costs, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he will ask his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to help Serbia through the energy crisis.
Both parliamentary and presidential elections are approaching in Serbia
in spring 2022, meaning Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is under pressure to reassure the population and stop rising costs from leading to a fall in living standards. The government plans to make
a one-off payment of €20 to all adult citizens of Serbia in December.
“Bread costs more than hashish"
make up a big share of consumer spending,” added the IMF blog.
The Western Balkans remains one of
the poorest areas of Europe. As a recent report from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and Bertelsmann Stiftung shows, economic convergence with Germany over the past 20 years has been very slow, while the gap with the new EU members in Eastern Europe has widened.
prices, in some sectors by as much as 40-50%, is expected, as farmers' basic production costs have risen by 70-80%. Direct costs in the dairy industry have surged by 11%, Nezavisen reported on October 5.
This was announced at a news conference at the Chamber of Commerce, where businesses called for the launch of a campaign to encourage people to buy domestic products.
bne:Tech
Contents
Top stories
Russia’s top retail and tech companies join forces to hunt for innovations in the rest of the world 2 Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019 4 Russian video streaming platforms
gain speed 5 Cloud services take off in Russia 6 SEMrush to SEO success 8
Leaders 9
Russia’s internet giant Yandex
announces growing and more
diversified revenues in 2019 10 Russian telecom major Rostelecom misses on earnings in 4Q19, cash
flow solid 12
Investment 13
World Bank approves $35mn project
to modernise Kyrgyz tax administration and statistical system 13 Romanian online home decoration
retailer raises €3.5mn in bonds 14 Russian billionaires Abramovich, Gutseriev, said to invest in Telegram
crypto project TON 14 Russian fund Da Vinci Capital gets
€30mn from Germany’s DEG to invest
in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan 15
Fintech & E-commerce 16
Russian e-commerce major
Wildberries to add self-employed
vendor products to offering 16 Russian Dixy retailer to launch online sales with Ozon 17 Valuation of Sistema’s e-commerce
asset Ozon boosted to $1.8bn 17
Telecom 19
Makedonski Telekom’s net profit
up 6% y/y in 2019 19 Romanian telco Digi grows by double
digit rates in 2019 19 Russia could postpone 5G rollout
from 2022 to 2024 20
NIBs 21
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Russia’s top retail and tech companies
join forces to hunt for innovations in
the rest of the world
BAs Russia’s retail and tech sectors consolidate, the leading companies are turned their gaze outwards to hunt for
bne:Tech
new technology and innovation.
See page 2
Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019
In 2019, the venture capital and private equity funding volume for Ukrainian and Ukrainian-founded tech startups reached $544mn (up from $323mn in 2018 and $265mn in 2017), says AVentures Capital’s latest industry report ”DealBook of Ukraine”,
reports Adrien Henni of Ukraine Digital News. See page 4
www.bne.eu