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Austria and Croatia - Read the latest headlines about bilateral relations in the areas of economy, business, investment, diplomacy, culture and tourism

Slovenia/Croatia: Agreement over Bank Dispute

After years of debate, there seem to be a final agreement in the fight for the insolvent Ljubljanska Banka. The settlement should pave the way for Croatia’s becoming an EU member state.

March 7, 2013

IMF Dissatisfied with Croatia´s Economic Progress

Economic conditions have deteriorated lately, reflecting weak external demand, private sector debt reduction, and lack of business and consumer confidence, the IMF delegation said.

February 28, 2013

Austria: Agrana Looking for New Market Shares in CEE and CESEE

CEO explains why Croatia and Serbia might be interesting settings

February 25, 2013 · Updated: February 25, 2013; 18:53

IMF Visits Croatia Again

A Mission of the International Monetary Fund, led by Nikolay Gueorguiev, arrived in Croatia for its usual semi-annual visit.

February 21, 2013

CESEE Region Still Has Enormous Growth Potential

“CEE growth drivers intact but innovation is needed to start convergence 2.0” Erste Group says.

February 20, 2013

CESEE: Stress of Competition is Growing

CEE significantly more industrialized than euro area (30% vs. 19%) but still needs to catch up in terms of competitiveness.

February 20, 2013

Hypo Group: Sale of Austrian Unit „at a Late Stage”

According to Hypo Group, the results of the Austrian unit for 2012 are “highly satisfying”.

February 16, 2013

Major Losses for Croatia Airlines

The publicly owned national carrier will introduce restructuring measures, the management announced.

February 16, 2013

CESEE Office Market Shows Solid Fundamentals

CESEE office market is undergoing a stable development; rental levels remain largely solid in most of the region, Erste Group says.

February 11, 2013

Dispute Between Croatia and Slovenia Solved

Regarding the Slovenian banking group NLB, the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Croatian counterpart have found a compromise.

February 7, 2013

CESEE: Economic Outook Brightens Slightly

According to a survey carried out by OeKB (Austrian Clearing Bank), investors in the CESEE region are more optimistic.

February 6, 2013

„Croatia Has No Answer to the Crisis“

Economists fear that the economic crisis in Croatia will continue this year. The government does not implement enough reforms, observers say.

February 4, 2013

Croatia Fights Against High Unemployment

In order to reduce the number of jobless workers, Croatia´s government plans to invest € 60m in labor market measures.

February 4, 2013

Moody´s Downgrades Croatia

The U.S. rating agency justifies the downgrade with the “bad economic outlook” and the “inflexible fiscal policy”.

February 2, 2013

Croatia: New Difficulties for Banks Ahead

Croatia´s National Bank is said to increase the coverage ratio for non-performing loans.

February 1, 2013

Slight Upward Trend for CESEE Countries

The economic crisis in the Eurozone has hit the CESEE countries particularly hard, EBRD reports. 2013 will be a better year.

February 1, 2013

OMV Sells Its Marketing Subsidiary in Croatia

With this transaction OMV Refining and Marketing has completed the next step in implementing the defined divestment program.

February 1, 2013

“Operations of Austrian Banks in CESEE Region Are a Success Story“

Regarding the Austrian banking sector, governor of OeNB (Austrian Central Bank) Ewald Nowotny demonstrates cautious optimism.

January 30, 2013

IMF: Growth in CESEE Region to Accelerate

In the next three years, economic growth rates in central, eastern and southeastern Europe will return to the pre-crisis level, IMF says.

January 23, 2013

Erste Group´s CEO Wants to Create CESEE Stock Exchange

Andreas Treichl, CEO of the Austrian banking group, would like to create an alliance between CEE Stock Exchange Group (CEESEG) and Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE).

January 23, 2013

Croatia: Austerity Policy Faces Difficulties

Croatia´s Minister of Finance Slavko Linic thinks that the austerity policy cannot be continued.

January 22, 2013

Serbia: Dinkic Underlines Importance of South Stream Pipeline

The South Stream pipeline is a “national project” and of vital interest for Serbia, Minister of Economics Mladjan Dinkic says.

January 19, 2013

Croatia: Dispute with Slovenia May Postpone EU Accession

In July, Croatia should become a member country of the EU. However, the legal dispute with Slovenia is still an obstacle. The neighbor country may cause a delay of Croatia´s accession.

January 17, 2013

Croatia Finds Compromise with Gazprom

Croatia will be connected with the South Stream pipeline. The construction costs will total € 60m.

January 17, 2013

Croatia: One Step Closer to the EU

According to their own statements, the Croatian government has fulfilled eight out of ten tasks, which must be finalized until July 2013. However, Croatia´s economic problems are far from being solved.

January 15, 2013

Fitch: Austrian Banking Industry Depends on CESEE

According to the U.S. rating agency, the situation of Austrian banks strongly depends on the development in central, east and southeast Europe.

January 14, 2013

First Signs of Economic Recovery

Liquidity is driving the markets, global monetary policy remains heavily expansive. Muted growth outlook for CEE.

January 10, 2013

“2013 will be a better growth year for CEE than 2012”

Unlike 2012 the new year starts with much less financial stress and easier monetary policy. Central and Eastern Europe has still considerable potential to outperform EMU, differentiating on domestic policies, Bank Austria says.

January 7, 2013

CESEE: Economy Slows Down Further

CEE macro downturn to hit trough in Q1 2013; forecast GDP growth 2013: Poland 2.2%, Slovakia 1.3%, Romania 1.1%, Erste Group says.

January 7, 2013

CESEE Equity Market: Upside Trend after Slow Start

Country allocation: An overweight on Russia is a strong bet for the coming quarter and mostly based on liquidity searching for an option after Turkey performing so strongly, Erste Group says.

January 7, 2013

Croatia Faces Stagnation

Last year, Croatia´s economy shrank substantially. In 2013, the country will recover, economists say.

January 5, 2013

Favorable Economic Outlook for Croatia

After a severe setback since 2009, the country is expected to register substantial growth rates again, Erste Group says. Above all, the EU accession is expected to boost the country´s economy.

December 28, 2012

Austrian Purchasing Power Abroad Shrinks

For Austrians, Hungary and Croatia still leading the list of top destinations. The Holiday euro is worth slightly more in many Eurozone countries than in Austria.

December 28, 2012

WIFO: „Shut Down Hypo Group“

The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) recommends closing the nationalized banking group. The number of banks is expected to shrink radically.

December 27, 2012

CESEE: Deposit Growth Slows Down

Given the sketched regional loan growth dynamics and their most important drivers it comes as no surprise that deposit growth rates in CEE also decelerated in recent months, Raiffeisen Research states.

December 21, 2012

CESEE Asset Quality: “Not out of the woods”

In terms of asset quality the banking sector trends in CEE remain a mixed bag, Raiffeisen Research says.

December 20, 2012

S&P Downgrades Croatia

Croatia´s Minister of Finance Slavko Linic does not exclude that Croatia needs support from the IMF next year.

December 17, 2012

Croatia Considers Leasing Out Highways

In order to reduce the budget deficit, Croatia plans to privatize its highway network.

December 8, 2012

Croatia: EU Scepticism Grows

After German officials considered postponing Croatia´s EU accession, Croats become more critical to the European Union.

December 8, 2012

Hypo Group: Deadline Expires

Today, the first deadline for the sale of Hypo Group´s subsidiaries in Southeast-Europe expires.

December 7, 2012

Hypo Group Sold AluFlexPack to MTC

After months of negotiations, the Austrian nationalized bank sold the Croatian aluminum company to the Switzerland-based Montana Tech Components.

November 30, 2012

Fitch Cuts Croatia´s Credit Rating Outlook

The U.S. rating agency argues that the economic development in Croatia is substantially behind the expectations.

November 30, 2012

"Croatia on the final stretch towards EU membership"

Austrian State Secretary encourages Zagreb to take final steps of reform.

November 30, 2012

CESEE: Russia Has Best Growth Prospects

Next year, Russia is expected to record a GDP growth rate of 3.8%, Vienna Institute of International Economic Studies (wiiw) says.

November 26, 2012

Croatia Plans to Introduce Property Taxes

Croatia´s Finance Minister Slavko Linic plans to introduce a property tax next year. The rate will come at 1.5%.

November 23, 2012

Hypo Group: Cash Contributions Come at € 500m

The Austrian state has to inject another € 500m in the financially stricken nationalized bank. Furthermore, guarantees will increase by € 1.0bn.

November 14, 2012

CESEE: Massive Capital Outflow

In the second half of 2011 and in the first half of 2012, foreign banks withdrew about € 55bn from the region.

November 14, 2012

CESEE: Lending Shrinks

Foreign banks reduce lending in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Hungary and Southeastern Europe are most affected.

November 12, 2012

Hypo Group Starts Selling Business in SEE

The nationalized Austrian banking group has to downsize drastically. Today, Hypo Group started to put the subsidiaries in Southeastern Europe for sale.

November 6, 2012

Croatia Does not Participate in South Stream Pipeline

The Russian gas pipeline South Stream will not run across Croatia. Initially, Croatia was viewed as transit country.

November 5, 2012