Κυριακή 28 Νοεμβρίου 2010

Business: Albania leads region in fiscal growth


se times

19/11/2010
The EBRD says Albania is on track for a top honour in Southeast Europe this year. Also in business news: Pristina Airport plans to increase flights.


The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) predicts that Albania will achieve the most economic growth in Southeast Europe this year. The 3% growth forecast is due to a number of factors, such as the country's relative macro-economic stability and fiscal constraints, the EBRD said in its annual report, published on Wednesday (November 17th).
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A new ferryboat line connecting the town of Svishtov in Bulgaria and Romania's Zimnicea across the Danube River was inaugurated this month. The 6m-euro investment in the facility was made by a Romanian investor. The ferry has the capacity to transport up to 250 passengers, 12 trucks and 40 cars.
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Pristina International Airport is attracting more airlines that will provide new connections with the main cities in Europe. The airport announced on Tuesday (November 16th) that Lufthansa will start operating early next year with four flights a week to Germany. EasyJet plans to introduce flights to the UK and Switzerland, while Hungary's Malev will double its flight to 14 a week. Flights to Italy and Belgium are also expected to become more frequent. Kosovo's only airport is expected to register a record 1.3 million passengers this year.
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The Bulgarian government has selected HSBC as consultant in building the country's second nuclear plant at Belene, Economy Minister Traycho Traykov announced on Tuesday (November 16th). The consultant will prepare a report on the financial viability of the project, which will likely be a key factor in attracting a strategic European investor.
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Turkey's Medicine Hospital Group has inaugurated its first international investment in Kosovo. The 70-bed cardiac hospital in Pristina will create 110 jobs.
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Rating agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday (November 16th) downgraded the Cypriot economy a notch to "A with a negative outlook" due to the banking sector's high exposure to debt-ridden Greece. According to the agency, the downgrade reflects "increased vulnerabilities from embedded credit risk of the Cypriot financial system's external assets and domestic loan book, and the impact these could ultimately have on public finances".
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The first mini-biomass power plant in Serbia opened in the village of Dragacica, near Cacak, local media reported on November 12th. The facility, which has an annual capacity of 600,000 kWh, will be powered by corn silage. The investment in the project amounted to about 200,000 euros.
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The Croatian parliament started discussing the 2011 budget proposal on Tuesday (November 16th). According to the draft, the budget deficit will be 4.3% of the GDP. The budget draft assumes that the economy will expand by 1.5% in 2011. The spending figure includes 270.6m euros for the EU accession process.
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The IMF revised down its 2011 GDP growth forecast for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to 2.2%, against 3% earlier, IMF representative Costas Christou said on Monday (November 15th). Christou led a Fund mission that stayed in the country for two weeks for the fourth review of the 1.2 billion-euro stand-by arrangement. After leaving BiH, the mission concluded that implementation of the stand-by arrangement has been broadly on track.
(Various sources -- 12/11/10-19/11/10)
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

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