July Hot Topics: Macron in Belgrade; Kosovo PM resigns; Major media merger in Slovenia approved; BiH closing unprofitable coal mines
Macron visits Belgrade French President Emanuel Macron’s visit to Belgrade in July is confirmation of better political and economic relations between the two countries, said Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić. At the start of his two-day visit to Belgrade, Macron said he had come to turn a new page in relations with Serbia, confirm friendship and build […]
READ MORESerbia drops 14 places on World Press Freedom Index
Serbia ranked 90th on the list of 180 countreis on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, dropping 14 places from the previous year. The report emphasises that since Aleksander Vučić came to power, media freedom has been significantly reduced, and“Serbia has become a place where practicing journalism is neither safe nor supported by the state”. […]
READ MOREIn Serbia monthly expenses higher than wages
According to the data from the Serbia’s office of statistics, in 2018 average monthly expenses of Serbian households were slighlty higher than average monthly incomes. On average, expenses exceeded income by RSD 747 (just over EUR 6). The average income stood at RSD 63,734 (around EUR 540), which is an increase of 3.8% compared to […]
READ MORECroatia increases wine exports to Serbia
Last year, Croatia exported a total of EUR 16m worth of wines, of which around EUR 939,000 were exported to Serbia, a 35% increase on the year before. This is mostly due to the efforst made by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) in promoting the local wines as quality products made of indigenous grape […]
READ MORECroatia’s tourism sector records over EUR 10bn in 2018
Croatian tourism industry recorded a total of EUR 10.1bn in revenues last year, up 6.4% from the previouys year (EUR 9.5bn). “For the first time in Croatian tourism, revenue from foreign tourists exceeded EUR 10bn for the first time ever. When we add the revenue from the domestic tourists, the total figure amounts to EUR 12bn […]
READ MOREVisa requirement for Kosovo will be lifted
European Parliament has voted to continue negotiations for the visa liberalisation process with Kosovo. Tanja Fajon, the European parliament’s spokeswoman said in a statement that “it is high time that European governments stop the blockade (of the visa liberalisation for Kosovo)”. She added that it’s now up to the EU Council to decide. “A good majority in […]
READ MOREEarly elections in Serbia possible in June
A member of Serbia’s ruling SNS party, Nebojsa Stefanović, said that it would be possible to hold early elections in Serbia in June this year. However, he also added that another possibility is to hold them in the spring next year. According to Serbia’s daily Večernje Novosti, the interior minister said the final date will […]
READ MOREGorenje reports record losses
Gorenje Group, which was last year bought by the Chinese Hysen, generated EUR 111.4m in net losses in 2018. Sales revenues fell by 4% and last year amounted to EUR 1,186bn. The decline in revenue is partly due to the disposal of certain activities.Despite a decline in sales, operating costs, including material and labor costs, were […]
READ MORES&P puts Croatia back into investment category
Due to an improved situation in the budget and economic recovery, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised its sovereign credit ratings for Croatia to ‘BBB-/A-3’ from ‘BB+/B’. This puts the country’s rating back into the investment category after six years. In a statement, S&P said that “the upgrade reflects Croatia’s improving fiscal metrics, underpinned by its recent […]
READ MORESale of Slovenia’s Abanka draws three bids
Slovenia has received three binding bids for the 100% stake in state-owned lender Abanka, including an offer from Serbia’s AIK Banka, Slovenia’s daily Finance reports. Other bidders include Hungary’s OTP Group and US investment fund Apollo. The deadline for placing binding bids expired on March 19. Apollo already owns Slovenia’s second largest bank, Nova KBM while this week […]
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