Centro Studi Europa dell’Est - news del 06.12.2007 - powered by www.seenews.com

NEWS DEL 06.12.2007

* ALBANIA *

Albania’s Sole Int Airport Hits One Mln Passengers Target Four Years Ahead of Schedule Dec 06, 2007, 16:53 CET | Story | SeeNews TIRANA (Albania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Albania’s sole international airport, TIA, has handled for the first time one million passengers within a year, a target achieved four years ahead of schedule, TIA said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/albania___ssoleintairportservicesonemlnpassengersfouryearsaheadof-161512

Albania To Auction 30.6 Mln Euro of 3-Mo T-bills on Tuesday Dec 06, 2007, 09:50 CET | Story | SeeNews TIRANA (Albania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Albania’s central bank will auction 3.7 billion leks ($44.56 million/30.61 million euro) in three-month Treasury bills on Tuesday, the bank said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/albaniatoauction30_6mlneuroof3-mot-billsontuesday-090548

Albania’s Q3 Sales Index Rises 11% Q/Q - Table Dec 06, 2007, 15:00 CET | Story | SeeNews TIRANA (Albania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Albania’s sales index, which covers sales in the industrial and services sectors, rose by 10.9% in the third quarter as compared to a quarter earlier, official data released by the National Statistics Institute (INSTAT) showed on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/albania_sq3salesindexrises10_9_q_q-table-145159

UPDATE 1- Albania’s Q3 Sales Index Rises 10.9% Q/Q Dec 06, 2007, 15:49 CET | Story | SeeNews (Adds details) http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/update1-albania_sq3salesindexrises10_9_q_q-152434

* BOSNIA *

Spanish Aricam Group Interested in Building Cement Plant in Bosnia Dec 06, 2007, 10:49 CET | Story | SeeNews BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 6 (SeeNews) – Spanish construction materials group Aricam is interested in building a cement plant near the northwestern Bosnian town of Prijedor, a Bosnian Serb government official said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/spanisharicamgroupinterestedinbuildingcementplantinbosnia-104125

Hungary’s MOL Says Central and Southeast European Gas Transmission JV May Become Operational in 2 Yrs Dec 06, 2007, 11:21 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - A new gas transmission company that would unite gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe could be set up and become operational in two years, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungary_smolsayscentralandsoutheasteuropeangastransmissionjvmaybecomein2-105142

Bosnia’s BH Telecom in 1.1 Mln Euro Deal with Slovenia’s Iskratel Dec 06, 2007, 12:31 CET | Story | SeeNews SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 6 (SeeNews) – Slovenian telecoms solutions provider Iskratel said on Thursday it had signed a 1.1 million euro ($1.6 million) contract with Bosnia’s biggest telco, state-controlled BH Telecom. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bosnia_sbhtelecomin1_1mlneurodealwithslovenianiskratel-115443

Austrian Insurer UNIQA’s Bosnian Unit Posts 9-Mo Net Profit of 325,000 Euro Dec 06, 2007, 14:35 CET | Story | SeeNews SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 6 (SeeNews) - The Bosnian unit of Austrian insurer UNIQA said on Thursday its net profit in the nine months of this year was some 633,000 marka ($474,000/325,000 euro). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/austrianinsureruniqa_sbosnianunitposts9-monetprofitof325_000euro-141308

Bosnia Schedule of Events – Dec 6-Feb 27 Dec 06, 2007, 09:10 CET | Story | SeeNews SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in or related to Bosnia and Herzegovina through February 27. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bosniascheduleofevents___dec6-feb27-090605

* BULGARIA *

Bulgarian Printing Company Billboard IPO To Be Oversubscribed at Top Half of Price Range - Analysts Dec 05, 2007, 19:08 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 5 (SeeNews) - The initial public offering (IPO) of Bulgarian printing and advertising company Billboard will be oversubscribed in the top half of the indicated price range of 5.5 to 7.5 levs ($4.1-$5.6/2.8 euro - 3.8 euro) per share, investment intermediary Elana Trading said on Wednesday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgarianprintingandadcobillboardtobeoversubscribedattophalfofrange—185111

Belgian KBC Wraps Up Buy of 75% of Bulgaria’s EIBank Dec 05, 2007, 20:29 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 5 (SeeNews) - Belgian banking and insurance group KBC said on Wednesday it closed the acquisition of a 75% stake in Bulgaria’s Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/belgiankbcsaysbuys75_ofbulgarianeibank-192848

BSE - Daily Bulletin, Selected Announcements - Dec 5, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:21 CET | Specialists Reports | SeeNews Bulgarian Investment Group REIT-Sofia, BSE code - BIG, has submitted to BSE-Sofia the following information:On 05.12.2007, the Board of Directors of Bulgarian Investment Group REIT has taken the following decision:- Due to lack of chosen auditor for 2007, the Board has requested Sofia City Court to appoint Ekaterina Geneshka as auditor of the company, in order she to audit and verify the 2007 annual financial report of the company. Sofia City Court has not yet passed judgement on that. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bse-dailybulletin_selectedannouncements-dec5_2007-091908

Fitch Affirms United Bulgarian Bank IDR at ’BBB+’, Outlook Stable Dec 06, 2007, 11:57 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) - International rating agency Fitch on Thursday said it affirmed the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of United Bulgarian Bank, majority owned by the National Bank of Greece (NBG), at ’BBB+’ with outlook stable, based on the high potential support available from NBG. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/fitchaffirmsunitedbulgarianbankidrat_bbb___outlookstable-111422

Bulgaria To Announce Criteria for Investors in New Coal-fired Power Plant on Dec 18 Dec 06, 2007, 13:20 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria will announce on December 18 its criteria for the investors willing to build a new power plant of at least 600 megawatts at the coal mining and energy complex Maritsa East, the concessionaire operating the coal mines said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgariatoannouncecriteriaforinvestorsfornewtppondec18-105132

Melrose Resources To Invest $120 Mln in Petroleum, Gas Exploration in Bulgaria Offshore Field Dec 06, 2007, 14:11 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) - Scottish-based oil and gas company Melrose Resources will invest $120 million (82.5 million euro) in petroleum and gas exploration of an offshore field in Bulgaria’s Black Sea over three years, the Sofia government said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/melroseresourcestoinvest_120mlninpetroleum_gasexplorationinbulgariafield-133500

Bulgarian REIT Prime Property Considers Listing Abroad To Raise Liquidity Dec 06, 2007, 14:22 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian real estate investment trust (REIT) Prime Property BG is considering listing on a foreign stock exchange to increase its capital and raise liquidity, the company’s executive director said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgarianreitprimepropertyconsiderslistingabroadtoraiseliquidity_funds-124127

Alfa Wood Bulgaria To Seek 6.4 Mln Euro in Capital Hike Dec 06, 2007, 14:44 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) – Wood processing company Alfa Wood Bulgaria will seek to raise 12.4 million levs ($9.3 million/6.4 million euro) in a capital hike to refinance debt and fund investments, the company said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgaria___salfawoodtoseek6_4mlneuroincapitalhike-142226

Hungarian OTP Bank Increases Bulgarian Unit Capital by 63.8% Dec 06, 2007, 15:05 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), November 14 (SeeNews) – Hungarian OTP Bank said it has raised the registered capital of its Bulgarian subsidiary DSK Bank by 63.8%. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungarianotpbankincreasesbulgariansubsidiarycapitalby30_8mlneuro-134121

Bulgaria’s Winslow Developments, Deutsche Bank To Build 129 Mln Euro Complex Near Sofia Dec 06, 2007, 17:56 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) – Bulgarian investment company Winslow Developments and Deutsche Bank will invest 252 million levs ($188 million/129 million euro) in the construction of a residential complex near the country’s capital Sofia, Winslow Developments said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgaria___swinslowdevelopments_deutschebanktobuild129mlneurocomplexin-171932

Bulgaria To Start up Two Intermodal Terminal Projects Next Year Dec 06, 2007, 18:18 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will launch in May 2008 two intermodal terminal projects to upgrade its worn out infrastructure and foster economic development with help from the European Union, the Transport Ministry said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgariatolaunchtwointermodalterminalprojectsnextyear-163210

Bulgarian Stocks Dip on Pofit Taking Dec 05, 2007, 20:58 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 5 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian stocks lost ground due to profit taking in brisk trading on Wednesday, brokers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgarianstocksdipinbearishsentiment-203944

STS Finance - USA Stock Markets Daily Review - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:38 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews First Positive Session For Wall Street This Month http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/stsfinance-usastockmarketsdailyreview-dec6_2007-090408

Elana - Bulgaria Daily Report - Dec 5, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:43 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews MARKET HIGHLIGHTSThe market was in the green all the session but slightselling pressure over several companies pushed down the indices and they closed with minor losses. The activity remained subdued. Large package transactions with CB Economic & Investment Bank (BRIB: 110.34; +4.59%) improved the turnover. 90% from the capital of BRIB changed hands at BGN 110.34. Doverie United Holding (DOVUHL: 14.16; -2.61%) also contributed for the turnover as institutional investor bought 200 000 shares at BGN 14.15. If we exclude deals with both companies the real turnover amounted almost BGN 8 m. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/elana-bulgariadailyreport-dec5_2007-092627

FFBH - Bulgaria Morning Update - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 10:24 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews MARKET WRAP-UPSell pressure and weak demand ruled during the Wednesday session. Still we saw interesting moves in Economic and Investment Bank (BRIB), where the acquisition of the bank by KBC has been registered on the stock exchange in two deals for total of 6,444,179 shares, or more than 92% of the capital at BGN 110.34. The other major move was in Doverie United Holding (DOVUHL) where more than 200k shares fixed the average price at BGN 14.16 (-2.61%). All indices closed in the red territory, although they registered only minor changes. SOFIX closed at 1,744.79 (-0.01%), BG40 fixed 527.51 (-0.43%) and the equally weighted BGTR30 lost 0.06% to 1,104.42 bps. Among the few gainers were Chimimport (CHIM) BGN 16.15 (+1.64%), Yuri Gagarin BT (GAGBT) BGN 123.07 (+1.91%) and Sopharma (SFARM) BGN 8.83 (+0.91%). Vouchers rapidly declined after the demand seemed to disappear and KZ closed at 0.4308 (-7.91%) and PKB at 0.4191 (-0.80%). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/ffbh-bulgariamorningupdate-dec6_2007-102132

Selling To Raise Cash for IPOs Pushes Bulgarian Stock Indices Lower Dec 06, 2007, 17:29 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) – Sell-offs by investors raising cash for upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs) pushed Bulgarian stock indices lower on Thursday, brokers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/sell-offspushbulgarianstockindiceslower-165133

Bulgaria Schedule of Events - Dec 6-Jan 9 Dec 06, 2007, 08:51 CET | Story | SeeNews SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in, or related to, Bulgaria through January 9. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bulgariascheduleofevents-dec6-jan9-081615

STS Finance - Daily FX Analysis - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:41 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews Stronger employment data supported the dollar http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/stsfinance-dailyfxanalysis-dec6_2007-091654

* CROAZIA *

Hungary’s MOL Says Central and Southeast European Gas Transmission JV May Become Operational in 2 Yrs Dec 06, 2007, 11:21 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - A new gas transmission company that would unite gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe could be set up and become operational in two years, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungary_smolsayscentralandsoutheasteuropeangastransmissionjvmaybecomein2-105142

Croatia Jan-Oct Tourist Numbers Rise 7.0%, Overnights Up 6.0% - Table Dec 06, 2007, 14:45 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - The number of tourists in Croatia through October rose by 7.0% on the year to some 10.8 million, as overnights increased by 6.0% to 55.1 million, the Croatian Statistics Bureau said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/croatiajan-octtouristnumbersrise7_0__overnightsup6_0_-table-144027

German Low-cost Airline Germanwings Will Fly to Croatian Town Osijek from Cologne Dec 06, 2007, 16:10 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - German low-cost airline Germanwings will launch flights between Cologne and the eastern Croatian town of Osijek in March next year, the Osijek airport said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/germanlowcostairlinegermanwingswillflytocroatiantownosijek-122844

CROATIA’S NOV PPI RISES 0.6% M/M, UP 5.4% Y/Y - STATS OFFICE Dec 06, 2007, 13:41 CET | Alert | SeeNews

http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/croatia_snovppirises0_6_m_m_up5_4_y_y-statsoffice-133942

Croatia’s Nov PPI Rises 0.6% M/M, Up 5.4 Y/Y - Table Dec 06, 2007, 14:15 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Croatia’s November producer price index (PPI) of industrial goods rose by 0.6% on the month, and was 5.4% higher than a year earlier, the State Statistics Bureau said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/croatia___snovppi-133429

EU Warns Croatia Not to Enforce Protected Fishing and Ecological Zone - Media Dec 06, 2007, 16:11 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has warned EU candidate Croatia not to enforce its protected Adriatic fishing and ecological zone from January 1, because this could be an obstacle in accession talks, Croatian media reported on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/euwarnscroatianottoenforceprotectedfishingandecologicalzone-paper-115357

FIMA Stock Monitor - Daily - Dec 5, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:35 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews Daily comment: The stocks soared today on expectation that the ruling HDZ will form a Government.There were no losers among CROBEX members today. Construction consultancy company IGH (IGH-R-A) and shipping company Atlantska plovidba (ATPL-R-A) were the biggest movers soaring by 8,25% and 3,52% respectively. All sectors benefited from today’s rally. Intergraded telecom HT (HT-R-A) rose by 1,04% to HRK 340,01, heavy constructor and power trunk producer Dalekovod (DLKV-R-A) soared 2,88% to HRK 1588,54, integrated oil and gas company Ina (INA-R-A) added 3,05% to HRK 2564,98. Toys and apparel retailer Magma (MGMA-R-A) rose by 0,73% to HRK 279 after the company announced it bought Serbian toys distributor MPC Holding Kozmolina. It looks like Magma this way bought a license to be exclusive distributor and importer of toys brands such as: Mattel, Lego, Lego, Ravensburger, Nikko, Crayola, Wader , Zapf as the acquired company was doing that for past 10 years. Magma did not disclose a n amount at which this acquisition was made. Almost all of today’s losers were companies with free float lower than 20%. Croatian financial services Supervisory Agency recently adopted a new rulebook banning domestic open end investment funds to invest in companies with free float lower than 20%, unless the market value of this free float is higher than HRK 100 million. This will probably cause domestic investments fund to withdraw their funds from those companies and consequently a price drop of those shares. On the other side, this is an opportunity for domestic retail investors and foreign institutional investors to be long on those issues. One of such companies is food and agricultural holding Bozjakovina risers as investors awarded Governments attention to make a debt to equity swap and to increase its stake from 8,0% to 30,7%. The share capital will be increased by HRK 78,2 million through issuance of 260.676 new shares. Đakovstina rose by 3,3% to HRK 199,98 on mini mum turnover. (BZJK-R-A) that is a mayor owner of another agricult l company Kutjevo (KTJV-R-A). Current market price of Kutjevo share (HRK 132) valuates Bozjakovina stake in Kutjevo at some HRK 532 million (HKR 2597 per Bozjakovina share!). On the other side, the market capitalization of Bozjakovina is some HRK 196 million and its debt totals to some HRK 290 million. This means you can sell Kutjevo, repay all debts and you would still have some HRK 30 million left, get whole Bozjakovina and its other companies. Besides Kutjevo, Bozjakovina also owns another agricultural company that is not joint stock company, but has some HRK 30 million in sales and net income of some HRK 1-2 million. Another company that could see cheap sell of is food company Koka (KOKA-R-A) that is currently traded at 5.3 x 2007 P/CF 5.3xEV/EBITDA and 0.5 x 2007 P/S. On the other side, domestic investment funds will probably route divested funds to blue chips. (Ivan Soldo, FIMA FAS ltd.) http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/fimastockmonitor-daily-dec5_2007-084726

Erste Securities - Croatian Equity Daily - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 10:01 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews MARKET COMMENTThe sudden optimism among investors on Wednesday brought an unexpected turnaround on the Croatian equity market and the highest daily turnover this week, propelling the CROBEX ahead by 3.1%. The majority of shares closed in green territory. Institut gradjevinarstva Hrvatske was the most liquid stock with HRK 12.5mn turnover and a price jump of 8.3%. Great performances were also seen by Ericsson Nikola Tesla (+6%), Ingra (+5%), IPK Kandit (+4.6%), Tankerska plovidba (+4.4%), Croatia osiguranje (+3.8%), Atlantska plovidba (+3.5%), Adris (+3.1%), INA (+3.1%) and others. Only 22 stocks finished in red territory. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/erstesecurities-croatianequitydaily-dec6_2007-095322

Bullish Mood Drives Croatian Share Indices Higher Dec 06, 2007, 18:10 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Croatian share indices kept on rising on Thursday amid a bullish market mood and gains on European and U. S. equity markets, traders said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bullishmooddrivescroatianshareindiceshigher-174946

Croatia Schedule of Events - Dec 6 - Jan 1 Dec 06, 2007, 08:57 CET | Story | SeeNews ZAGREB (Croatia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in or related to Croatia through January 1. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/croatiascheduleofevents-dec6-jan1-085531 * MACEDONIA * Macedonian Electricity Generation Company ELEM Sells Two Hotels for 1.35 Mln Euro Dec 06, 2007, 15:35 CET | Story | SeeNews SKOPJE (Macedonia), December 6 (SeeNews) – Macedonia’s state-run electricity generation company ELEM on Thursday offered for sale two hotels as part of plans to divest of non-core assets, asking a combined starting price of 1.35 million euro ($1.97 million). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/electricitygenerationcompanyelemsellstwoleisurefacilitiesfor1_350mlneuro-142238

Macedonia Schedule of Events - Dec 6 - Oct 18 Dec 06, 2007, 10:00 CET | Story | SeeNews SKOPJE (Macedonia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in, or related to, Macedonia through Oct 18. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/macedoniascheduleofevents-dec6-oct18-095819

* MOLDOVA *

Moscow Allows Imports by Another Four Moldovan Wineries Dec 06, 2007, 14:21 CET | Story | SeeNews CHISINAU (Moldova), December 6 (SeeNews) - Moscow has permitted another four Moldovan wineries to sell their products in Russia, bringing the total number of Moldovan wine exporters to 19, Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moscowallowsimportsbyanotherfourmoldovanwineries-111309

MOLDOVA’S 10-MO TRADE DEFICIT UP 41.8% Y/Y TO $1.83 BLN - STATS OFFICE Dec 06, 2007, 10:07 CET | Alert | SeeNews

http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moldova_s10-motradedeficitup41_8_y_yto_1_83bln-statsoffice-100628

Moldova’s 10-mo Trade Deficit Widens 41.8% Y/Y - Table Dec 06, 2007, 10:20 CET | Story | SeeNews CHISINAU (Moldova), December 6 (SeeNews) - Moldova’s trade deficit for the first ten months of 2007 widened by 41.8% on the year to $1.83 billion (1.26 million euro) as imports grew faster than exports, the country’s statistics bureau said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moldova_s10-motradedeficitup41_8_y_y-table-101451

Moldova Had 20 Mln Euro Budget Surplus at end-Nov Dec 06, 2007, 14:59 CET | Story | SeeNews CHISINAU (Moldova), December 6 (SeeNews) – Moldova had a 327.3 million lei ($29 million/20 million euro) budget surplus at the end of November this year, compared with a 975.8 million lei surplus a year earlier, as spending rose faster than revenue, Finance Ministry figures showed on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moldovahad20mlneurobudgetsurplusatend-nov-142902

Moldova’s 11-mo Customs Revenue Up 22.4% Y/Y - Table Dec 06, 2007, 16:38 CET | Story | SeeNews CHISINAU (Moldova), December 6 (SeeNews) - Moldova collected 7.359 billion lei ($655.2 million/448 million euro) in customs duties in the first 11 months of 2007, up 22.4% from a year earlier, the country’s Customs Service said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moldova_s10-mocustomsrevenueup22_4_y_y-table-163105

Moldova Schedule of Events - Dec 6 -Jan 9 Dec 06, 2007, 09:59 CET | Story | SeeNews CHISINAU (Moldova), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in or related to Moldova through January 9. New or amended entries are marked (*) http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/moldovascheduleofevents-dec6-jan9-095701

* MONTENEGRO *

Montenegro Schedule of Events - Dec 6 - Dec 6 Dec 06, 2007, 09:28 CET | Story | SeeNews PODGORICA (Montenegro), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in, or related to, Montenegro through December 6. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/montenegroscheduleofevents-dec6-dec6-091242

* ROMANIA *

S&P Upgrades Rompetrol Group to ’B+’ on Ownership Support Dec 06, 2007, 09:49 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Global rating agency Standard & Poor’s said on Thursday it had raised its corporate credit rating on oil refiner The Rompetrol Group N.V. to ’B+’ from ’B-’ with positive outlook. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/s_pupgradesrompetrolgroupto_b__onownershipsupport-092327

Hungary’s MOL Says Central and Southeast European Gas Transmission JV May Become Operational in 2 Yrs Dec 06, 2007, 11:21 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - A new gas transmission company that would unite gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe could be set up and become operational in two years, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungary_smolsayscentralandsoutheasteuropeangastransmissionjvmaybecomein2-105142

Romanian Engineering Company Rominserv To Develop $4.4 Mln Sewerage-Water Systems Dec 06, 2007, 13:17 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Rominserv, the maintenance and engineering arm of Romanian oil group Rompetrol, said it will develop sewerage and water projects with a value of $4.4 million (3.0 million euro). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romanianengineeringcompanyrominservtodevelop_4_4mlnsewagesystemprojects-112806

Romania Sells Assets of Indebted Pipe and Tube Plant Republica to India’s MSL for 6.2 Mln Euro Dec 06, 2007, 14:42 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Romania has sold some of the assets of indebted seamless pipes and tubes plant Republica to India’s Maharashtra Seamless (MSL) for 6.2 million euro ($9.0 million), receiver Moore Stephens RVA said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniasellsassetsofindebtedseamlessplantrepublicatoindia___smslfor6_2mln-140619

Vodafone Romania Adds 10 Cities to 3G Network Dec 06, 2007, 15:28 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - The Romanian unit of British wireless giant Vodafone has launched third-generation (3G) services in another 10 Romanian cities, bringing its coverage to a total of 58 cities, it said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/vodafoneromaniaadds10citiesto3gnetwork-150629

Romanian, U.S. Investors Buy up to 7% of Romanian IT Co BitDefender, Mull Listing Dec 06, 2007, 16:00 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) – A group of Romanian and U.S. investors has acquired a stake of between 5% and 7% in Bucharest-based antivirus software developer BitDefender for $7.0 million (4.8 million euro), the company said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/local_americaninvestorsbuyminoritystakeinromanianitcobitdefender_maylist-142929

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report Nov 2007 - Part III Economic Developments, Labour Market Dec 06, 2007, 16:04 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews 2. Labour marketThe widening of labour deficits signalled by economic agents in various sectors and the further easing of income policy (via the granting of substantial bonuses to public sector employees and the acceleration of the annual growth rate of budgetary and extra-budgetary revenues) fuelled, in 2007 Q2 and Q3, the inflationary risks associated with wage developments. The build-up of such pressures was manifest on both demand and supply sides, as reflected by the more than twofold increase in the annual growth of wages than that in labour productivity (in industry) and by the faster pace of increase in the purchases of goods and services by households.2.1. Labour forceIn 2007 Q2 and Q3, tensions in the labour market continued to strengthen, as a result of the further contraction of excess workforce supply (unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent in July-August 2007) as well as employers’ high persistent demand. Therefore, the ratio between the number of unemploye d and the number of vacancies contracted markedly (16.9:1 as compared to 23:1 in April-August 2006), and the widening of the positive gap between the number of newly recorded vacancies and the number of hirings (to more than 48 percent, compared to only 27 percent in the year-earlier period) suggests ever increasing discrepancies between excess workforce supply and demand.Although there are no official data regarding the distribution of workforce deficit by sector or by trade, the opinions of the NEA, as well as those of recruitment agencies or employers, show that the sectors facing the biggest challenges are the following: i) construction, which has seen large workforce fluctuations due to migration, so that employers’ difficulties to find properly skilled staff extended to unskilled workers as well; additionally, the workforce deficit has been fuelled by the large workforce demand given the expansion of activity;ii) trade and hotels and restaurants, on the backdrop of t he sharp expansion of networks of foreign companies nationwide and the penetration of new companies on the Romanian market (mainly in the former case) as well as of the migration of workforce abroad (in the latter case);iii) light industry, pharmaceuticals, transport means, computers; the workforce deficit in industry has been related mainly to adequately skilled staff (except for light industry) and may be associated with several factors: workforce migration, insufficient supply of university graduates and the business development policies promoted by companies, that focused on enhancing the sale/distribution networks rather than on staff recruitment and training.The problems associated with the workforce deficit have been amplified by:i) low mobility of workforce. The legislation provides for the possibility of granting benefits to the unemployed claimants that accept a job in another locality, yet the experience of large companies which proceeded to relocating their activity illustrates the fact that employees are usually reluctant to su ch a change, their motivation entailing a substantial financial effort;ii) insufficient adjustment of education curricula to labour market requirements (more manifest in the case of technical higher education) or the poor quality of staff training on some segments (hotels). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnov2007-partiiieconomicdevelopments_-160250

Northern Ireland’s Mivan, Moritz Group Start 700 Mln Euro Shopping Malls Project in Romania Dec 06, 2007, 17:40 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Northern Irish real estate developers Milvan and Moritz Group have started the construction of the first mall of a 700 million euro ($1.0 billion) project for 10 shopping centres in Romania, Milvan said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/northernireland_smivan_moritzgroupstart700mlneuroshoppingmallsprojectin-163422

Romanian National Bank - Main Economic Developments, Oct 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 14:24 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews The National Bank of Romania BNR has released its October 2007 issue of its monthly statistics report, containing data on the main macroeconomic and financial indicators, provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the Finance Ministry, the Bucharest Stock Exchange, RASDAQ and BNR. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-maineconomicdevelopments_oct2007-142033

Romanian National Bank - Main Economic Developments - Full Report, Sept 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 14:47 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews The National Bank of Romania BNR has released its September 2007 issue of its monthly statistics report, containing data on the main macroeconomic and financial indicators, provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the Finance Ministry, the Bucharest Stock Exchange, RASDAQ and BNR. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-maineconomicdevelopments-fullreport_sept2007-144302

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report Nov 2007 - Part II Economic Developments, Demand Dec 06, 2007, 15:52 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews 1. Demand and supplyIn 2007 Q2, the annual growth rate of real GDP slowed down slightly against the previous quarter from 6 percent to 5.6 percent, being 0.4 percentage points above the June benchmark projection. As concerns the economic growth pattern, investment continued to be the fastestgrowing aggregate demand component for the fifth straight quarter; unlike Q1, the growth rate of exports of goods and services decelerated markedly to less than 25 percent of final consumption dynamics. As concerns supply, most economic sectors recorded weaker annual growth rates in Q2, except for construction. 1.1. DemandBehind the slower economic growth in Q2 stood the strong worsening of the contribution from the external component of aggregate demand to -9.2 percentage points, i.e. the lowest level in the period for which quarterly national accounts are available. This trend was only partly offset by the 1.3 percentage point acceleration of domestic demand growth due to gross capital f ormation.1.1.1. Consumer demandThe growth rate of final consumption decelerated further, by 0.6 percentage points to 10.6 percent, owing entirely to its private component.Household consumer demandThe annual dynamicsof household actual final consumption slowed down slightly, remaining however at a high level (10.7 percent). Structural analysis points to mixed developments. On the one hand, “self-consumption and purchases on the agri-food market” narrowed by 8.9 percent and the growth rate of “other consumption” slowed 2.6 times to 5.7 percent, primarily due to the drought in the first part of 2007, which had an adverse impact on the output of both fruit and vegetables and milk and dairy produce. On the other hand, the growth rate of retail purchases and service provision accelerated by 2.8 percentage points to an annual 15.2 percent; statistical data on retail sales show that food sales had the largest contribution to this performance, going up 15.1 percent compared t o merely 1 percent in Q1.The large share of foodstuffs in househol onsumer basket (around 40 percent) led to an expansion in the inflationary potential of consumer demand during Q2. The growth rates recorded by sales of most non-food items accelerated as well, except for sales of motor vehicles, whose annual dynamics slowed down to 23.2 percent, i.e. less than half the previous quarter’s figure.The advance in retail purchases of goods and services was bolstered mainly by the high growth rate of disposable income (16 percent in real terms, a level similar to that seen in Q1)10. However, mention should be made that the influence of this hike may have been alleviated by the higher saving propensity illustrated by the renewed acceleration in the growth rate of RON- and foreign currency-denominated deposits of households (to 38.4 percent in real terms). As for borrowed funds, bank loans seem to have had a lower contribution to the financing of consumer goods purchases, as suggested by the maintenance of a strong downward trend in the annual dyn amics of short- and medium-term bank loans to households (4.6 percent in Q2 against 7.8 percent in Q111). Nevertheless, the signals sent by the market point to an upward trend in alternative financing instruments launched by both commercial banks (particularly credit cards) and non-bank financial institutions (especially those specialised in granting consumer loans). The expansion of retail networks (particularly hypermarkets and supermarkets12), and their wide resort to promotional campaigns and discounts were yet another channel for boosting purchases of goods and services. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnov2007-partiieconomicdevelopments_-154824

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report November 2007 - Summary Dec 06, 2007, 15:14 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews In September 2007, the 12-month inflation rate reached 6.03 percent, 2.23 percentage points above the June figure and 2.04 percentage points higher than the annual inflation rate recorded in July, due to the emergence of two types of inflationary shocks in 2007 Q3. The largest inflationary impact was generated by a higher-than-expected rise in the volatile prices of some agricultural produce (up 10.8 percent from June and 8.4 percent versus July respectively) and the substantial increase of the prices of certain processed foods with significant shares in the core inflation basket and which exhibit inelastic demand, the mentioned price increases mainly being the consequences of declining agricultural output following this year’s severe drought and of the negative base effect associated with the bumper harvest of 2006. The second major adverse effect on CPI inflation came from the upward correction of the RON exchange rate in the context of turbulence on world financial marke ts; this development confirmed the unsustainable nature of the rapid nominal appreciation of domestic currency in the previous period, which was not underpinned by similar changes in Romania’s economic fundamentals, an aspect which the central bank had highlighted as one of the major risks to continued sustainable disinflation in the medium term. Under the impact of these two inflationary shocks, which were accommodated by excess demand, the annual CORE2 inflation rate adjusted for the effect of indirect taxes also saw a trend reversal, re-entering a steep upward path in August.The impact exerted by the negative supply-side shock stemming from the poor agricultural output on core inflation was strengthened by the second-quarter pick-up in domestic demand growth, and especially by the strong increase in the demand for agri-food items in response to lower self-consumption. Investment remained the fastest-growing component of domestic absorption in 2007 Q2 – to a great exte nt due to the ongoing boom in construction investment – its annu pace advancing to 19.4 percent from 17.2 percent in the previous quarter. Under the circumstances, the slight drop in annual GDP dynamics (to 5.6 percent in 2007 Q2 from 6.0 percent) was largely attributable to the rise in the negative balance of net exports1, as well as to a contraction in self-consumption, given the poor performance in agriculture.The anticipation of heightened risks to continued disinflation prompted the NBR Board to discontinue at the beginning of 2007 Q3 the downward trend in the monetary policy rate by leaving it unchanged at 7 percent per annum thereafter. The risks identified following the analyses were associated with the persistent mismatch between rapid wage increases and productivity gains, the anticipated upsurge in public spending, which is projected to outpace growth in budget revenues, and with the continued worsening of the external deficit. The interest rate policy was preemptively strengthened in the latter half of Q3 through tighter contro l exerted by the central bank over money market liquidity, so that average interbank rates stood about 2 percentage points higher at end-September than in the previous month.The decision taken by the NBR Board was substantiated by the worsening near-run inflation outlook – due largely to the rise in the inflationary potential of developments in some supplyside factors (especially the influence of drought on agricultural output and food prices) and the adverse effects triggered by the upward correction in RON exchange rate – as well as the increased uncertainty surrounding future developments in these inflationary factors. In order to enhance the impact of interest rate decisions, the National Bank of Romania made several changes to the operational framework of monetary policy during the reported period, seeking to strengthen the signaling role of the key policy rate and the role played by interbank money market rates within the monetary policy transmission mechanism. Thu s, the central bank moved to narrow the corridor defined by the in est rates on its standing facilities by raising the interest rate on the deposit facility to 2 percent per annum from 1 percent and by lowering the interest rate on the lending facility to 12 percent per annum from 14 percent. Moreover, the National Bank of Romania decided to reduce the maturity for deposit-taking open-market operations – the key tool for monetary policy implementation – to two weeks from one month previously. Also, with a view to consolidating the restrictiveness of broad monetary conditions, the central bank left unchanged the minimum reserve requirements ratio on RON-denominated liabilities2 at 20 percent and the minimum reserve requirements ratio on foreign exchangedenominated liabilities of credit institutions at 40 percent; by maintaining this measure, the National Bank of Romania took into consideration the fast growth in non-government credit (by a real 43.1 percent), particularly its foreign exchange-denominated component (73.2 percent in euro te rms), as well as the ongoing prospects of these trends. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnovember2007-summary-151216

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report Nov 2007 - Part I Inflation Developments Dec 06, 2007, 15:24 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews In 2007 Q3, the 12-month inflationrate exceeded the upper limit of the target band of ±1 percentage point around the central target; thus, at end-September, the annual inflation rate reached 6.03 percent, 2.23 percentage points above the June figure and 2.04 percentage points higher than the annual inflation rate recorded at end-July. Unlike the previous quarter, when pressures were visible only on volatile prices, during the period under review, the short supply of agri-food items (some of them having significant shares in the CPI basket and exhibiting inelastic demand), alongside the correction in the previously fast nominal appreciation trend of the domestic currency, had an adverse impact on the trajectory of core inflation as well. The persistent excess demand facilitated the pass-through of supply-side shocks against the background of a fast rise in household incomes.The acceleration of the 12-month inflation rate in the period under review was accounted for in a propo rtion of almost 70 percent by volatile prices, whose annual dynamics exceeded in September 2007 by 10.9 percentage points that at mid-year. Among the drivers of this performance were, on the one hand, the tensions generated by drought on the market of fruit and vegetables – not only domestically, but also regionally – and, on the other, the significant base effect associated with the bumper crop in 2006. Nevertheless, a favourable influence came from the deceleration by 1.9 percentage points in the annual growth rate of fuel price (to -0.7 percent), with the recent upward trend in the oil price on international markets3 entailing no significant movements on the domestic market.The pressures exerted by administered price developments on inflation rate diminished, as their annual dynamics slowed down to 7.3 percent in September compared to 8.7 percent at the end of the previous quarter. Behind this performance stood the absence of adjustments in energy prices, as well as t he favourable base effect in case of fixed telephony, the pick-up prices following the depreciation of the domestic currency versus the euro in the current period being far below last year’s rise as a result of Romtelecom higher subscription fees. The same as in the previous quarters, developments in the prices of tobacco products should be emphasised apart from the CORE2 measure, as movements have usually been associated with some changes in the tax treatment (vice tax, excise duties). The slowdown in the annual dynamics by almost 4 percentage points in September versus June 2007 was due to a favourable base effect, the impact generated by the increase in excise duties in July 2007 being weaker than that on 1 July 2006.The steadily downward trend in adjusted CORE2 inflation reversed abruptly in August. The effects of the significant vegetal output losses caused by adverse weather conditions on the domestic market and of the escalating tensions on the external agri-food markets, in the context of the global incidence of such phenomena, sp read beyond products with volatile prices (bakery products and edible oil were the hardest hit). Thus, the annual growth rate of core inflation accelerated by approximately 1.5 percentage points at end-September compared to June 2007, almost entirely as a result of developments in food prices. Market-priced services also had a marginal contribution to this performance, whereas the decreasing trend in the annual dynamics of non-food prices slowed down significantly.Behind the halt in disinflation stood also the depreciation of the domestic currency during August-September and the marked hike in wage earnings on an annual basis, which was conducive to the further fostering of excess demand, as well as to higher ULC. In this context, industrial producers, traders as well as banks adjusted their inflation expectations5, whose worsening has acted as an additional deterrent. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnov2007-partiinflationdevelopments-151923

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report Nov 2007 - Part IV Economic Developments, Import Prices Dec 06, 2007, 16:14 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews 3. Import prices and producer pricesIn 2007 Q2, inflationary pressures continued to ease, as illustrated by imported goods as well as by industrial and agricultural goods originating in the domestic market, even though in the case of the latter group due partly to some favourable base effects. The said effects will be significantly lower in 2007 Q3, taking into account the developments on the international markets of energy and agricultural commodities and the poor domestic vegetal crops.3.1. Import pricesIn 2007 Q2, imported inflation further had a favourable impact on domestic price dynamics, given that the unit value index of imports remained below par (98.2 percent compared to 96.9 percent in 2007 Q1) and the domestic currency strengthened versus the euro at a faster pace (7.1 percent from 5.4 percent in the first three months of 2007). The unit value index of imports from the European Union declined slightly to 98.13 percent as compared with 98.54 percent in Q1.Consumer goods posted uneven developments, the significantly faster growth rates of import prices for most food items (particularly meat, edible fruit and processed foodstuffs) being alleviated by opposite movements under pharmaceuticals, fuels, wearing apparel and electrical machinery and apparatus.Data available for 2007 Q3 are indicative of ever higher pressures on the domestic fuel price, as oil prices on international markets rose from an average of USD 68.7 per barrel in 2007 Q2 to USD 75 per barrel, the alleviation of tensions on these markets seeming unlikely in the short run. Similar developments are expected in the case of agricultural commodities, the prices of which followed an upward course once the first estimates on production losses generated by adverse weather conditions have been released.Nevertheless, favourable effects may be due to the appreciation of the domestic currency versus the euro and the US dollar (9.5 percent and 18.1 percent respectively, in annual ter ms) and the persistent downtrend in the annual growth rate of indu ial producer prices for EU25 exports (excluding construction and energy), which decelerated from 1.98 percent in 2007 Q2 to 1.47 percent in July-August. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnov2007-partiveconomicdevelopments_-161319

Romanian National Bank - Inflation Report Nov 2007 - Part V Economic Developments, Monetary Policy Dec 06, 2007, 16:24 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews 1. Monetary policyIn 2007 Q3, the monetary policy rate was left unchanged at 7.0 percent per annum and the quarterly average of the real effective exchange rate of the RON continued to drop compared to the previous quarter, in spite of the trend reversal seen in the RON/EUR rate in August. In this context, the slight increase in restrictiveness of broad monetary conditions was upheld also by a firmer control of the central bank over money market liquidity and by the further tight minimum reserve requirements mechanism.The decision to bring to a halt the downward trend in the monetary policy rate, which the NBR Board adopted in July, was chiefly driven by the relative increase in risks to sustainable disinflation as a result of a persistent mismatch between wage increases and productivity gains, the anticipated upsurge in public spending and the still worsening trend in the external position of the economy. The prudent stance of interest rate policy in Q3 was also warranted by worsening inflation expectations in the near run – due largely to the upsurge in the inflationary potential of some supply-side factors (with the impact of drought on agricultural output and food prices being prevalent) and to the adverse effects triggered by the upward correction in RON exchange rate in the latter part of Q3 and the increased uncertainty surrounding future developments in these inflation-boosting factors. In order to enhance the impact of interest rate decisions, the National Bank of Romania made several changes to the operational framework of monetary policy during the reported period, seeking to strengthen the signalling role of key policy rate and that of interbank rates within the monetary policy transmission mechanism. In addition, with a view to ensuring an appropriate real interest rate level for stimulating savings – as a prerequisite for the gradual reduction of the external deficit – the interest rate policy was preemptively strengthened in the latter half of Q3 through tighter control exerted by the cent bank over money market liquidity; hence, average interbank rates stood about 2 percentage points higher at end-September than in the previous month. Furthermore, taking into consideration the fast growth in non-government credit33 – also underpinned by the surge in its foreign exchange-denominated component – the central bank left unchanged the minimum reserve requirements ratio on RON-denominated liabilities34 at 20 percent and the minimum reserve requirements ratio on foreign exchangedenominated liabilities of credit institutions at 40 percent.The decision to leave the monetary policy rate unchanged at 7.0 percent per annum – and implicitly to stop the series of cuts applied in 2007 H1 – was taken after updating in July the projection of medium-term macroeconomic developments, which underscored the increased likelihood that some major risks to sustainable disinflation should materialise. The most significant risk identified was the likely expansion in excess demand above the projected level owing to the considerable loosening of income policy in 2007 and to the pro-cyclical stance of fiscal policy in the next quarters, on the one hand, and to the short-lived reduction in potential GDP induced by the detrimental impact the poor harvest on supply, on the other hand.The monetary policy rate was left unchangedat 7.0 percent per annum at the Board meeting of 26 September as well. This decision was taken after the balance of risks identified in the wake of analysing the new information available prompted the central bank to vigilantly monitor the movements in the main macroeconomic and financial variables both domestically and internationally so as to allow an as-realistically-as-possible assessment of their impact on the future path of inflation. The impact needs to be evaluated amid higher interbank rates, in line with the monetary policy rate, as a result of further tight liquidity control that had been pre-emptively initiated, as well a s in the context of heightened uncertainties on foreign markets.Ag st this background, expectations on second-quarter GDP performance were largely confirmed. Thus, economic growth slackened, but at a slower-than-anticipated pace (5.6 percent against 5.2 percent – see Chapter III. Economic developments), with the annual rate of increase of gross fixed capital formation accelerating to 19.4 percent from 17.2 percent in Q1 and that of private consumption dropping by merely 0.7 percentage points to 10.7 percent. As a result, the annual expansion in domestic absorption gained renewed momentum in 2007 Q2, reaching 13.2 percent – 1.4 percentage points higher than the first-quarter reading –, and the slowdown in annual GDP growth was solely attributable to the rise in the negative balance of net exports.Moreover, the poor agricultural output started to put pressure on domestic demand; thus, in Q2, demand for foodstuffs rebounded (in response to lower self-consumption), having a decisive contribution to the pick-up in the growth rate of purchas es of goods and services, the chief component of household consumption (15.2 percent against 12.4 percent in 2007 Q1). Although it affected mostly the external imbalance, the pick-up generated larger demand-side inflationary pressures, which could lead to costlier domestic goods and a faster rate of increase in imported inflation amid the hike in international prices of some vegetal products and the effects of a weaker RON versus the major currencies becoming manifest. In addition, such a pattern of household consumption was very likely to persist into Q3, given that the statistics for July-August confirmed the ongoing change in the structure of household consumer demand on the back of the increase in the contribution from demand for food. Thus, the annual average growth of food purchases rose markedly and was the sole driver of the sizeable advance in the dynamics of retail sales. These developments were associated with the still fast dynamics of disposable income (propelle d particularly by wages and remittances from abroad) and the shapi of a worsening trend in net savings of households, which made the central bank’s prudent policy stance warranted.The explanation for this trend lies with the renewed pick-up in the annual dynamics of loans to households in July and August, possibly as a result of progress in the process of approving banks’ internal prudential rules on household lending. The rebound in lending was almost entirely due to faster increase in home loans, considering that the annual growth rate of consumer credit remained relatively steady. At the same time, the credit structure by currency changed at a faster pace, with foreign-currency-denominated loans gaining momentum; the annual growth rate of such loans (expressed in EUR) surged to 116 percent in August, whereas that of RONdenominated loans stayed on the downward track that had begun 11 months ago (reaching 39.2 percent in August) amid flat average rates on new loans. Developments in forex loans mirrored households’ keener appetite for long-term forexdenominated loans, upheld by the protracted decline in interest rates on new EUR-denominated loans and the attractive lending rates on non-traditional currencies. Under the circumstances, the National Bank of Romania was of the opinion that a potential rate hike could boost demand for foreign currencydenominated loans, thereby offsetting the opposite effect which was expected to be exerted (including via altered expectations) by the recent trend reversal in the RON exchange rate and the likely increase in the cost of funds raised by credit institutions from foreign markets (a possible result of a larger risk premium).As for household deposits, the developments in the first part of Q3 appear to suggest a steeper propensity for saving; the annual growth rate of time deposits in domestic currency with maturity of up to two years accelerated in July, but lost some momentum in August. Moreover, a portfolio shift of households’ term deposits with maturity of up to two years in favour of RONdenominated instruments was manifest (a nst the backdrop of a continued slowdown in the pace of increase of forex deposits). The average annual growth rate of household deposits with banks increased to 40.3 percent, 1.8 percent above the secondquarter average. The dynamics of overnight deposits of households picked up sizeably, reaching 109.6 percent in August, up 15.7 percentage points from end-June 2007. Behind this development stood the rapid annual growth rate of RONdenominated deposits (135.6 percent), which reflected the banks’ policy of maintaining the attractiveness of such instruments, high yields included.Towards the end of the quarter, the central bank’sconcern to ensure sustainable disinflation was augmented by the sharp acceleration in inflation in August39 and the worsening shortterm outlook on the performance of the general consumer price index. The major determinants of resurgent inflation were the higher-than-expected increase in some food prices and the RON exchange rate reverting to the upwar d trend as a result of global market turmoil. At end-July, the domestic currency underwent an episode of nominal depreciation, prompted by the effects, due to expectations in particular, of investors’ heightened risk aversion against the background of spill-over of the tensions in the US sub-prime mortgage market. The relative recovery on international markets halted only briefly the upward drift in the RON/EUR rate, which resumed in early September, given that operators’ anticipations were depressed by the release of some statistical data that failed to warrant market expectations (second-quarter GDP) or confirmed market fears (current account deficit for January-July 2007); subsequently however, the local currency re-entered an appreciation path.Under the circumstances, the decision to leave the policy rate unchanged also took account of the major uncertainties arising from the impact of the recent financial market turmoil on global economic growth, particularly on the volume and cost of external financing that could be channelled to e Romanian economy and which would have an impact on its growth rate.In order to increase the impact of interest ratedecisions, the National Bank of Romania changed the operational framework of monetary policy. With a view to lowering the magnitude of interbank rate fluctuations and thus strengthening their role within the monetary transmission mechanism as well as the signalling role of key policy rate, the central bank moved to narrow the corridor defined by the interest rates on its standing facilities. Consequently, the interest rate on the deposit facility was raised to 2 percent per annum from 1 percent, while the interest rate on the lending facility was cut to 12 percent per annum from 14 percent. Moreover, for a better harmonization of the maturity of the key monetary policy instrument (to which the monetary policy rate is associated) with, on the one hand, the maintenance period of reserve requirements (one month) and, on the other hand, the prevailing maturity of i nterbank market transactions, and hence in order to reduce the volatility of short-term interest rates on this market, the NBR decided in July to decrease the maturity for deposit-taking operations to two weeks from one month previously.In an attempt to consolidate the restrictiveness of monetary conditions, starting August, the central bank strengthened significantly the control over money market liquidity, while in the first part of 2007 Q3 market operations offset only partly the liquidity injections triggered by autonomous factors. The National Bank of Romania mopped up excess liquidity largely via variable-rate deposit auctions at which accepted amounts equalled the pre-announced ones; the persistent uncertainties of banks regarding the developments in autonomous factors of liquidity gave rise to a spread between the average interest rate on two-week deposits with the NBR and the monetary policy rate. For removing this gap, as of the final week of September, the central bank started to perform fixed-rate deposit-taking operations, wit anks’ bids being accepted in full. Under the circumstances, at end-September, the average balance on National Bank of Romania’s open-market operations rose by 27.5 percent against June, with two-week maturity deposits accounting for 81.9 percent of the total balance (compared with 75.3 percent at mid-year). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-inflationreportnov2007-partveconomicdevelopments_-162310

Ieba Trust - Romanian Market Daily - Dec 5, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 09:27 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews After one month, BET-FI is again above 75,000 points http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/iebatrust-romanianmarketdaily-dec5_2007-082939

Raiffeisen Capital & Investment - Investment Daily Romania - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 10:14 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews WatchlistTransgaz IPO takes places between November 26 and December 7, 2007. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/raiffeisencapital_investment-investmentdailyromania-dec6_2007-100715

Romanian National Bank - Developments on Romanian Financial Markets, Nov 5 - 9, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 13:36 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews The National Bank of Romania BNR has released its weekly report on the developments on the local financial markets for the week 5 - 9 November, 2007. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-developmentsonromanianfinancialmarkets_nov5-9_2007-165444

Romanian National Bank - Developments on Romanian Financial Markets, Nov 19 -23, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 13:45 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews The National Bank of Romania BNR has released its weekly report on the developments on the local financial markets for the week 19 - 23 November, 2007: http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-developmentsonromanianfinancialmarkets_nov19-23_2007-134245

Romanian National Bank - Developments on Romanian Financial Markets, Nov 26 -30, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 13:53 CET | State Agencies Reports | SeeNews The National Bank of Romania BNR has released its weekly report on the developments on the local financial markets for the week 26 - 30 November, 2007: http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniannationalbank-developmentsonromanianfinancialmarkets_nov26-30_2007-135113

Romanian SIFs Continue To Rise Strongly, Lift Stock Market Dec 06, 2007, 16:36 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - The indices of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Thursday rose for a sixth trading session in a row, as the five SIF regional investment funds continued to advance strongly, brokers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romania_sfiveinvestmentfundscontinuetorisestrongly_pushstockmarketup-160201

Romania Schedule of Events - Dec 6 - Feb 26 Dec 06, 2007, 08:54 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in or related to Romania through February 26. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romaniascheduleofevents-dec6-feb26-081613

Romanian Leu Firms Further vs Euro As Bank of England Cuts Key Interest Rate Dec 06, 2007, 16:46 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed stronger versus the euro on Thursday as the Bank of England cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point, dealers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/romanianleufirmsfurthervseuro_bankofenglandcutskeyinterestrate-163436

* SERBIA *

HEINEKEN SAYS TO ACQUIRE SERBIAN RODIC BREWERY Dec 06, 2007, 09:05 CET | Alert | SeeNews http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/heinekensaysacquiresserbianrodicbrewery-090428

Heineken To Acquire Serbian Rodic Brewery for Undisclosed Price Dec 06, 2007, 09:24 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Dutch brewer Heineken said on Thursday it would acquire Serbia’s Rodic brewery for an undisclosed sum. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/heinekensaysacquiresserbianrodicbrewery-090752

Hungary’s MOL Says Central and Southeast European Gas Transmission JV May Become Operational in 2 Yrs Dec 06, 2007, 11:21 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - A new gas transmission company that would unite gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe could be set up and become operational in two years, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungary_smolsayscentralandsoutheasteuropeangastransmissionjvmaybecomein2-105142

Serbia Opens Tender for 70% of Transport Company Jugekspres Putnicki Saobracaj Dec 06, 2007, 11:58 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Serbia opened on Thursday a tender for the sale of the state’s 70% stake in transport company Jugekspres Putnicki Saobracaj, the country’s Privatisation Agency said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbiaopenstenderfor70_oftransportcompanyjugekspresputnickisaobracaj-105157

Serbia Offers 39.2% of Bus Manufacturer Ikarbus for Sale Dec 06, 2007, 12:03 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Serbia opened on Thursday a tender for the sale of the state’s 39.2% stake in bus manufacturer Ikarbus, the country’s Privatisation Agency said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbiaoffers39_2_ofbusproducerikarbusonsale-114330

UPDATE 1 - Heineken To Acquire Serbian Rodic Brewery for Undisclosed Price Dec 06, 2007, 14:00 CET | Story | SeeNews (adds background, details) http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/update1-heinekentoacquireserbianrodicbreweryforundisclosedprice-104607

Austrian Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank’s Serbian Unit To Increase Capital by 30.6 Mln Euro Dec 06, 2007, 15:16 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Austrian Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank’s Serbian Unit said it will increase capital by 2.438 billion dinars ($44.6 million/30.6 million euro) through a new share issue. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/austrianhypoalpe-adria-bank_sserbianunittoincreasecapitalby30_6mlneuro-145404

SERBIA’S NOV PPI UP 1.2% M/M AFTER RISING 0.8% M/M IN OCT - STATS BUREAU Dec 06, 2007, 14:16 CET | Alert | SeeNews

http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbia_snovppiup1_2_m_m_afterrising0_8_inoct-statsbureau-140536

Serbia’s November Producer Prices Up 1.2% M/M - Table Dec 06, 2007, 14:23 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Serbia’s November producer prices rose by 1.2% from a month earlier and were 8.4% higher on the year, the Serbian Statistics Bureau said on Thursday. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbia_snovemberproducerpricesup1_2_m_m-table-140818

Vojvodjanska Banka - Daily Vobnews - Dec 6, 2007 Dec 06, 2007, 10:33 CET | Broker’s Report | SeeNews Vojvodjanska banka released its Daily Vobnews Report for December 6, 2007 containing the following charts and tables: http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/vojvodjanskabanka-dailyvobnews-dec6_2007-103114

Shares of Bus Producer Ikarbus Surge after Serbia Offers Its Stake for Sale Dec 06, 2007, 17:15 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) – The shares of Serbian bus manufacturer Ikarbus surged on Thursday after the government’s Privatisation Agency opened a tender for the sale of the whole state stake in the company. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/sharesofbusproducerikarbussurgeafterserbiaoffersitsstakeforsale-164854

Serbian Shares Gain in Lower Turnover, Kosovo Weighs Dec 06, 2007, 17:52 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) – Serbian share indices ended higher in lower turnover on Thursday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on the future of the country’s independence-seeking province of Kosovo, brokers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbiansharesgaininsmallvolumesasinvestorswaitforkosovotalk_sdeadline-170007

Serbia Schedule of Events - Dec 6 - Jan 2 Dec 06, 2007, 09:29 CET | Story | SeeNews BELGRADE (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Following is a schedule of corporate, economic and political events taking place in or related to Serbia through January 2. New or amended entries are marked (*). http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/serbiascheduleofevents-dec6-jan2-091024

Democratic Party Leads in Kosovo Parliamentary Elections – Final Results Dec 06, 2007, 09:49 CET | Story | SeeNews PRISTINA (Serbia), December 6 (SeeNews) - The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) won with 34.3% of the votes the general elections held in the Serbian province on November 17, the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said in a statement, certifying the final election results. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/democraticpartyleadsinkosovoparliamentaryelections___finalresults-092611

* SLOVENIA *

Hungary’s MOL Says Central and Southeast European Gas Transmission JV May Become Operational in 2 Yrs Dec 06, 2007, 11:21 CET | Story | SeeNews BUCHAREST (Romania), December 6 (SeeNews) - A new gas transmission company that would unite gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe could be set up and become operational in two years, Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/hungary_smolsayscentralandsoutheasteuropeangastransmissionjvmaybecomein2-105142

Bosnia’s BH Telecom in 1.1 Mln Euro Deal with Slovenia’s Iskratel Dec 06, 2007, 12:31 CET | Story | SeeNews SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 6 (SeeNews) – Slovenian telecoms solutions provider Iskratel said on Thursday it had signed a 1.1 million euro ($1.6 million) contract with Bosnia’s biggest telco, state-controlled BH Telecom. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/bosnia_sbhtelecomin1_1mlneurodealwithslovenianiskratel-115443

Slovenia’s Helios Buys Ukrainian Coating Producer Avrora Dec 06, 2007, 18:07 CET | Story | SeeNews LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Slovenian paint and coating producer Helios has bought Ukrainian coating maker Avrora for an undisclosed sum, aiming to double its sales in the ex-Soviet country, Helios said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/slovenia_sheliosbuysukrainiancoatingproduceravrora-172623

Slovenian Stock Indices Rise Further in Lower Turnover, Krka Extends Gains Dec 06, 2007, 17:24 CET | Story | SeeNews LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), December 6 (SeeNews) - Slovenian stock indices rose for a fourth day running on Thursday with heavyweigh blue-chip drug maker Krka extending its gains by adding 2.58%, brokers said. http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/slovenianstockindicesrisefurtherinlowerturnover_krkaextendsgains-165044

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