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Austria and Russia - Latest cross-border activities between Austria and Russia and the 9 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Cyprus: Negotiations About “Plan B“ Today
After days of negotiations in Moscow, Cyprian Finance Minister had to return empty-handed. Talks about “plan B” will continue today.
March 22, 2013
Medvedev: Harsh Criticism For EU At Conference in Poland
At a two day’s international press convention for EU journalists, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev has highlighted the improved political and economic interaction between Russia and Poland. However, he critized the EU on its Cyprus-politics.
March 21, 2013
Cyprus: No Hope in Sight Yet
It is still uncertain if an agreement with Russia about the sale of gas fields can be found. President of the EU commission has joined the talks in Moscow.
March 20, 2013
Ukraine: Not Enough Progress
According to an evaluating report of the EU, Ukraine does not show enough progress in reforms.
March 20, 2013
Cyprus Appeals for Help to Russia
In a vote on Tuesday the government has decided not to use the private money of Cyprus‘ citizens to help bail out the banks. After the rejection, the EU aid package is now off. Cyprus hopes rest on Russia at this point.
March 20, 2013
Austria and Moldova to Boost Cooperations
The Republic of Moldova has been a primary country of Austrian Development Cooperation since 2004. State Secretary Lopatka underlined this during a visit to Moldova on the occasion of the re-opening of the Austrian embassy.
March 19, 2013
Russia: Gazprom Runs the Risk of Losing Market Shares
According to the newspaper “RBC Daily”, Gazprom stands to lose a further market share for gas supply as German energy enterprises are prompting the government to start producing shale gas.
March 19, 2013
Cyprus to Receive € 10bn in EU Aid Money
Russia being the biggest investor in Cyprus offered extension of credits. In return, austerity measures and reforms are demanded.
March 16, 2013
VBAG is Forced to Continue Radical Downsizing Measures
The partly nationalized and financially stricken Austrian banking group has to implement a painful restructuring concept. At the moment, VBAG sells its properties.
March 15, 2013
Russia: Former Economy Minister To Become New Governor Of Central Bank
Former economy minister Elvira Nabiullina will take over the post of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Governor.
March 14, 2013
Russia: Banks At Risk Of Losing Billions
According to rating agency Moody’s, Russians banking institutes are at risk of losing money to investments in Cyprus.
March 14, 2013
Russia’s Share in Latvian Exports Decreases
Provisional data of the Central Statistical Bureau show that in January 2013 compared to December of previous year, exports value of goods at current prices decreased by 4.6%, but of imports – by 4.1%.
March 13, 2013
Russia: Battle Between Rosneft And Gasprom Starts
The fight between Russia’s two biggest energy providers Rosneft and Gasprom has started. Rosneft tries to snatch away large deposits of raw oil and reports Gasprom to the government.
March 12, 2013
Russia: Rosneft Takes over TNK-BP
The EU Commission has approved of the fusion of TNK-BP and Rosneft. According to the commission, Rosneft will still have business competition.
March 11, 2013
Lithuania: Exports Decreased by 7.6 % in January
Foreign trade in January 2013 decreased. Major losses in Agricultural sector.
March 8, 2013
Hungary: OTP’s Profits Lower Than Expected for Q4
OTP said it had to recover from losses from previous year. Income in the core domestic business fell 17 % to HUF 94.6 bn in 2012. Still, net profits are up 46 %.
March 8, 2013
Austria: Increase Of Foreign Trade
Even with the economy crisis, the percentage of foreign business expands.
March 8, 2013
Mixed Outlook for Russia
This year, Russia´s GDP will grow by 3.3%, the World Bank predicts. Regarding economic reforms, Russia must improve its effort, though.
March 4, 2013
Austria Become Second Most Important Trading Partner for Hungary
Last year, only the foreign trade volume between Hungary and Germany was higher. Peter Szijjarto, spokesman of Prime Minister Viktor Orban´s party Fidesz says.
February 23, 2013
OMV and Repsol Searching for Oil in Romania.
Petrom, the Romanian subsidiary of OMV and the Spanish Repsol Group have agreed on a joint venture in Romania. Investments estimated at approximately EUR 50 mn in the next two years.
February 23, 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
Sberbank Threatens to Sue VBAG
Last year, VBAG has sold VBI (Volksbank International) to Russian Sberbank. Now, Sberbank is highly dissatisfied with the performance of VBI.
February 19, 2013
Turkey Plans to Build First Nuclear Power Plant
In order to become energy autonomous, the country wants to put a nuclear power plant into operation in six years.
February 16, 2013
EU Foreign Trade with Russia and Turkey Growing Strongly
Last year, the EU has achieved a trade surplus of € 105bn. The trade surplus with Turkey was up by € 25bn. Exports to Russia were up by 15%.
February 15, 2013
Russia: Consumer Loans Growing Substantially
At the moment, the market for consumer loans is growing by 40%. The household indebtedness is still relatively low.
February 13, 2013
Russia Makes Oil to Gold
In the last decade, Russia´s government has transformed the oil exports into gold reserves. No other country has bought more gold in the last years.
February 12, 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
Russia: National Bank Under Pressure
Russia´s National Bank faces a growing inflation rate. At the same time, the economic growth flattens.
February 9, 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
Erdogan Considers Joining „Shanghai Five“
Turkey´s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan increases the pressure on the EU. He considers a political re-orientation towards the east.
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
EU FDI Stocks: Russia Ranks Fifth
Foreign Direct Investment EU27 investment stocks in the rest of the world increased by 50% between 2008 and 2011.
January 22, 2013
Nabucco: Decision Will Be Announced by Mid-2013
The Shah Deniz II consortium will announce its decision on the pipeline project in June, Nabucco´s CEO Reinhard Mitschek says.
January 21, 2013
CESEE Property Market Highly Heterogeneous
In Austria, the yield is expected to shrink further. However, the investments will be stable, CBRE Austria says. In the CESEE region, the situation is ambiguous.
January 21, 2013
Russian Rosatom May Build Nuclear Power Plant in Bohunice
Because of the completion of the Czech nuclear power plants, the Czech energy company CEZ is expected to withdraw from the construction project.
January 19, 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 Finds Compromise with Gazprom
Croatia will be connected with the South Stream pipeline. The construction costs will total € 60m.
January 17, 2013
Stepic: „CESEE Region Faces Challenging Year“
RBI´s (Raiffeisen Bank International) CEO Herbert Stepic explained that central, eastern and southeastern Europe is still Europe´s growth engine.
January 15, 2013
CEE Banking Study 2013: “Banks Rebalance Their Business Models” (2)
Total assets and lending have grown steadily since 2008, even though at a slower pace than before the crisis and with a stronger focus on domestic funding sources.
January 15, 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
Serbia to Sign Loan Agreement with Russia
Tomorrow, Serbia´s Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic will visit Moscow.
January 10, 2013
Central Europe's Relations With the U.S.
Philip H. Gordon from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S.-Central Europe Strategy Forum, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, DC remarks on the issue of U.S. relations with Central- and Eastern Europe as follows.
January 9, 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
Petrom: Major Gas Deal Signed
OMV Petrom exploring shallow water sector of Neptun block in the Black Sea.
December 22, 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
CESEE Banking Sector: Improving Market sentiment, but Slower Growth
The average CEE loan growth slowed to16-17% yoy in Q3 from 19% in Q1/Q2, Raiffeisen Research says.
December 20, 2012