Page 10 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report November 2017

The Regions This Week
November 11, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Southeast Europe
Albania’s energy regulatory body ERE an- nounced that it had provided final certification to state-owned company Albgaz to officially act as the gas system operator on November 8. The decision was taken in October after the European Commission's Energy Community secretariat said it supports the certification of Albgaz under the Third Energy Package.
The European Commission (EC) has raised its GDP forecast for Albania for 2017 by 0.3 per- centage points (pp) to 4%, due to the expected boost of foreign direct investment (FDI), the EC said in its Autumn European Economic Forecast. The EBRD has also upgraded the GDP forecast for Albania for 2017 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.7%, the bank said on November 7. The 2017 projection for Albania is almost the same as one for the whole of Southeastern Europe, of 3.6%.
A new task force within the Albanian state police has been set up and tasked with fighting organ- ised crime in cooperation with agents from Amer- ica’s FBI and Italy. The new force will be opera- tional as of November 6, media in Tirana reported. The fight against criminal and drug trafficking has risen high in the list of priorities for the Socialist- led government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) left unchanged its 2017 economic growth projection for Bosnia & Her- zegovina at 2.5% in the November edition of its Regional Economic Prospects report. Last year, the economy expanded by 3.2%.
The European Commission (EC) has improved significantly its projections for Bulgaria’s GDP growth in 2017 and 2018 in the autumn edition
of the European Economic Forecast, issued on November 9. According to the new projection, the economy should grow by 3.9% this year and by 3.8% in 2018. Previously, the EC forecast 2.9% and 2.8% for 2017 and 2018, respectively. The EBRD
has raised its forecast for Bulgaria’s real GDP growth to 3.5% in 2017.
Bulgarian politicians were angered after Rus- sia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian soldiers saved thousands of Bulgarian Jews during the World War II (WWII). Zakharova’s comment came after an unknown person wrote the slogan “100 years of Zionists dictatorship” on a monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia. The spokeswoman called this “yet another act of desecration” during a regular briefing with journalists in Moscow.
Croatia's troubled food and retail giant Agrokor accepted creditor claims worth HRK41.2bn (€5.4bn) but disputed other claims worth a to- tal of HRK16.5bn on November 9. The Agrokor founder, Ivica Todoric, was arrested in London on November 7.
Romania’s Banca Transilvania (BT) applied to the bank of Moldova to acquire up to 100% in Victor- iabank, deschide.md reported on November 9.
Romania’s oil and gas company OMV Petrom Group, controlled by Austria’s OMV Group, reported a 110% rise in its operating income to RON1.8bn (€400mn roughly) as the sales (not including the fuels excise taxes) advanced by 20% to RON14.3bn essentially driven by higher oil prices.
The European Commission has revised its projection for Romania’s GDP growth this year to 5.7% on November 9 from 4.3% in its spring forecast. Growth is expected to slow down to 4.4% the following year and 4.1% in 2019.
Romania’s government on November 8 endorsed by emergency decree key amendments to the Fis- cal Code, despite the general criticism expressed by the trade unions, investors’ associations, Fiscal Council and the Economic and Social Council.