Vienna's Foreign and Bilateral Relations

Poland: Sixteen Banks to be Examined by EBA

In total, sixteen Polish banks will participate in the stress tests carried out by the European Banking Authority.

February 4, 2014

Criticism of Croatia´s Fiscal Policy

Next year, Croatia´s government wants to comply with the EU fiscal rules. According to economists, this aim is not realistic.

February 4, 2014

IMF: Bulgaria May Reach European Standards in 40 Years

According to the International Monetary Fund, the poorest EU member faces a long transition period.

February 4, 2014

Romania: Base Rate at Record Low

Today, the Board of the National Bank of Romania has cut the base rate to 3.50 % from 3.75%. Since July, borrowing costs were cut by 175 bps. Economists think that there will be no further cuts.

February 4, 2014

„Hungary and Austria Must not Become Enemies“

Ewald Nowotny, governor of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) wants a solution between the Hungarian government and the Austrian banking sector.

February 4, 2014

Bulgaria: IMF Puts Pressure on Government

The International Monetary Fund demands Bulgaria´s government to accelerate economic reforms.

February 3, 2014

Bucharest: Fitch Affirms Sovereign Debt Rating

The U.S. rating agency Fitch has kept the long-term issuer default rating at “BBB-“. The outlook remains stable.

February 3, 2014

Upward Trend in Polish Property Market Continues

In Poland, the property market continues to grow significantly. There are no signs of a cool-down.

February 3, 2014

Czech Republic: Euro Not Before 2020

Czech new Minister of Finance Andrej Babis thinks that the euro will not be introduced in the next few years.

February 3, 2014

Serbia: First License Withdrawal of Private Bank

For the first time in the Serbian history, a privately held bank loses its license.

February 3, 2014

Tusk: No Monetary Interventions Necessary

In the past few months, the Polish zloty fell significantly. However, Poland´s Prime Minister Donald Tusk thinks that the zloty does not need support.

February 3, 2014

Hungary: Next Currency Crisis Ahead

The extremely loose monetary policy begins to become a problem for Hungary. The forint exchange rate is going up considerably.

February 1, 2014

Vienna Insurance Group Enters New Market

Acquisition of the Moldovan insurer Donaris.

January 31, 2014

Hungary: Stable Economy, Weak Currency

According to Prime Minister Orban the volatility of the Hungarian Forint is based on global factors.

January 31, 2014

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January 31, 2014

Poland: Economic Growth in 2013 above Expectations

GDP growth in Poland came at 1.6 percent year-on-year in 2013 which is 0.1 percent above expectations.

January 31, 2014

Poland: PKO BP Plans Keeping High Level of Loans

Poland’s biggest bank PKO BP plans selling consumer loans in the amount of PLN 2bn in every quarter from now on.

January 30, 2014

Austrian Industrial Sector only Sees Weak Recovery

The Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) warns about a fragile economic recovery.

January 30, 2014

Poland: NBP Sees No Reason for Weakening Zloty

According to Eugeniusz Gatnar, board manager of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), there was no fundamental reason for monetary intervention.

January 30, 2014

S&P to Establish CEE Center in Poland

Warsaw will be the new CEE focal point of Standard&Poor;’s (S&P) as the US rating agency announced establishing an office in Warsaw.

January 29, 2014

Spindelegger: “No Exploitation of Resolution Funds”

Among the finance ministers in Europe, there are still different perceptions regarding the bank resolution fund.

January 28, 2014

Capital Increase at RBI Hungary

RBI (Raiffeisen Bank International) will make a capital injection of € 55m in its Hungarian affiliate

January 28, 2014

New Czech Government in Dispute

The new Czech government is in dispute even before it was officially sworn in.

January 28, 2014

Poland: New Indices at WSE

GPW, the operator of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) will introduce two new indices.

January 28, 2014

OECD Shows Great Concern over Hungarian Economy

According to the OECD, the country’s recovery from recession will be weak in 2014 and 2015

January 27, 2014

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January 27, 2014

Hungary Faces Trend Reversal in Monetary Policy

The Hungarian National Bank (MNB) has cut the reference rate to 2.85% from 3.00%. The end of the easing cycle is not reached yet.

January 25, 2014

Romania´s President Opposes the IMF

Traian Basescu is strictly against imposing an additional tax on fuel. Whether Romania will achieve the budget target is highly uncertain.

January 24, 2014

Poland: More than Half of Borrowing Needs Covered

In CESEE, governments are in a hurry. The Polish government announced that about 50% of the borrowing needs could be covered in the first three weeks of 2014.

January 24, 2014

Survey: CEOs in Romania Most Optimistic

A great majority of CEOs at Romanian enterprises are confident in regard to the economic outlook and growth in 2014.

January 24, 2014

Czech Republic: New Government Appointed in Late January

Zeman expected to appoint even “problematic” candidates.

January 24, 2014

RBI Not to Be Sold to Hungarian State

Hungarian Minister Varga announced that the Hungarian state had no interest in taking over RBI’s local affiliate. Instead, RBI announced that staying in Hungary was “the right decision”.

January 23, 2014

Eurozone: Highest Economic Growth in Two Years

The purchase manager index for the private economy increased to 53.2 points up by 1.1 points, as published by Markit research institute on Thursday.

January 23, 2014

Poland: Banking Sentiment Rises

The Polish banking sentiment indicator Pengab increased by 1.2 points in January on a month-on-month comparison basis to a total of 27.5 points.

January 23, 2014

Bulgaria Imposes Interest Ceiling on Quick Loans

The Bulgarian parliament plans on putting a lid on the interst rates of quick loans.

January 23, 2014

Poland: PKO BP Bond Rated A2

Rating agency Moody’s gave an “A2” with a negative outlook on the € 500m bond by Polish key lender PKO BP.

January 23, 2014

Uniqa Growing Faster Than Czech Insurance Market

Insurance group Uniqa reveals a significant increase in premiums in the first three quarter in 2013. Moreover, Uniqa showed an increase of CZK 3.3bn in the sector non-life insurance and CZK 877m in life insurances.

January 22, 2014

Eurozone: Number of Banks Declining Fastly

The decline in the number of euro area monetary financial institutions (MFI) continued in 2013, according to ECB’s (European Central Bank) reports.

January 22, 2014

Czech Economy to Grow Not Sooner than 2016

The Czech economy will struggle to show economic growth both this and next year, according to the Czech Federation of Trade Unions CMKOS.

January 21, 2014

Czech Republic: New Government Facing Bumpy Road

The first obstacles for forming a new government seem to have been surmounted – for the time being.

January 21, 2014

Spindelegger Met Almunia: „Bank Aids Were No Issue“

Today, Austrian Minister of Finance Michael Spindelegger has met Commissioner for competition Joaquin Almunia.

January 20, 2014

Czech Republic: Lending Conditions to Remain Stable

According to the Czech National Bank (CNB), credit conditions for corporate and mortgage loans will remain unchanged while conditions for consumer loans will tighten.

January 20, 2014

Poland to Do without Further Bond Issues

Poland will abstain from issuing new US-Dollar or Eurobonds.

January 20, 2014

Uniqa Serbia Continues to Grow

Market share increases to 7.3 per cent in third quarter of 2013. Premium volume for life insurance up 18.5 per cent.

January 20, 2014

„Hungarian Economy Must be Rearranged“

István Töröcskei thinks that the Hungarian banking sector is highly interesting. In general, the financial sector must help to develop the Hungarian economy, Töröcskei argues.

January 18, 2014

Czech Republic: Euro Introduction Has no Priority

In an interview with Bloomberg, designated prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that there will be no date for entering the Eurozone in the current term.

January 17, 2014

Croatia: “Loose Monetary Policy Shows First Signs of Success”

Boris Vujcic, governor of HNB (Croatian National Bank) thinks that the quantitative easing policy works.

January 17, 2014

Czech Republic: Sobotka Sworn in as PM

Head of the Czech Social Democrats (CSSD), Bohuslav Sobotka, was sworn in as new Prime Minister by President Milos Zeman on Friday afternoon.

January 17, 2014

Hungary: Forex Loan Problem to be Solved

According to the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), the problem of the foreign-exchange loans could be solved in the next half year.

January 17, 2014

Slovenia Attracting FDI from US and UK

The Slovenian Ministry of Finance is taking great efforts to attract investors from the US and the UK.

January 17, 2014