June Hot topics: Adria Airways in trouble; BiH bans cars older than 10 years; Serbia gets its first 5G base; Lower roaming costs in WB countries
Fitch raises Croatia’s credit score Fitch Ratings raised Croatia’s credit score to investment-grade level last month. The score was raised from BB+ by one notch to BBB-, with a positive outlook. “Croatia outperformed its budget target for the third year in a row in 2018, with the government posting a surplus of 0.2% of GDP… […]
READ MOREAbanka sale completes privatisation of Slovenia’s largest banks
Slovenia’s daily Delo reports that Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) announced in June that the most favourable bid for the purchase of 100% of shares of Abanka was submitted by the Nova kreditna banka Maribor (NKBM), which is owned by the American investment fund Apollo. According to unofficial information published by Slovenian media, SSH decided to […]
READ MOREMAY HOT TOPICS: EC delivers its latest report on progress in Balkans; Merkel supports Croatia’s bid to join Euro and Schengen; Serbia and Bosnia threaten retaliation against Kosovo tariffs; EU elections deliver (almost) expected results in Slovenia and Croatia; Uljanik starts bankruptcy proceedings
EC delivers its latest report on progress in Balkans The outgoing head of the European Commission, Johannes Hahn has published on 29 May his final report on the progress made by the Western Balkan countries aspiring to become EU members. In the report, EC recommends the opening of accession talks for Albania and North Macedonia, while […]
READ MORESlovenia’s ports and roads connect East with West
Well-developed transport infrastructure and excellent connections to the Port of Koper, which offers the shortest transport route from the Far East through the Suez Canal to Europe, strengthen the favourable geostrategic position of Slovenia and contribute to the country’s exceptional potential for transport and logistics. Slovenia has a favourable geostrategic position and thus exceptional potential […]
READ MOREYaskawa robots factory starts production in Slovenia
The new factory, opened in April, will complement Yaskawa’s two production facilities in Japan and China and cover approximately four-fifths of Europe’s demand for Motoman robots. The Japanese corporation Yaskawa, which is considered the largest producer of industrial robots in the world, opened a new plant of industrial robots and a European robotics development center […]
READ MOREHOT TOPICS IN APRIL: Croatia’s unemployment drops further; Serbia’s press freedom continues to decline; Russia and Serbia to abolish roaming charges
Unemployment rate in Croatia drops further in March Unemployment rate in Croatia to 9.5% in March from 10.2% in February, with 8,600 citizens finding employment during the period, the state statistics bureau reported. The figures showed that at the end of March, there were 1.38m employed persons in Croatia, an increase of 0.6 percent on […]
READ MOREJoining the prestigious list
Slovenia is the first country in the region to have a business school included on the Financial Times business school rankings. By Maja Dragovic The latest recognition amongst a number of accolades in recent years, including Equis in 2006 and AACSB in 2010, sets University of Ljubljana Faculty of Economics (FELU) further apart from its […]
READ MOREPoor legal frameworks keep foreign investors away from Western Balkans
Western Balkan countries need to put more effort into attracting foreign capital to help them end the deadlock and strengthen their economies. Egon Zakrajšek, senior adviser and a member of the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) in Washington, warns that the global environment in 2019 can be marked by potential negative scenarios that could have a significant impact […]
READ MOREThe future of banking in the region
The Slovenian banking system is solid, banks are better capitalized than before the economic crisis, they have adopted different business models, and they have fewer unprofitable loans. Also different is the supervising system, and if something was to go wrong, it would be noticed soon, says the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, Boštjan Vasle […]
READ MOREHOT TOPICS IN MARCH: Karadžić gets life sentence; Croatia shipyards face bankruptcy; Gorenje’s record losses; Croatia’s back in investment category
Radovan Karadžić, the former president of Bosnian Serbs, was sentenced to life in prison at an appeals court in The Hague after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2016, Karadžić was found guilty on 10 counts including genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks […]
READ MORE