SLOVENIA
Prešeren's day, a holiday of Slovenian culture on February 8th
Yesterday the stock exchange in Ljubljana was closed as February 8th is Prešeren's day, a holiday of Slovenian culture. It has been celebrated since 1945 and since 1946 it is the state holiday, form 1991 it has also been a work free day. Slovenian statistical office says that each citizen of Slovenia spent on average 172 euros for culture in 2016 and that culture contributed 1.1% to GDP and total government expenditure on culture was 1.0% of GDP.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Repricing continues
This week, the correction on world markets continued. In the wake of the new valuations yesterday all the markets, apart from some Asian ones, were in the red. Yesterday's drops were between 3.5 and 4 percent in US markets, and we witnessed double-digit corrections in European markets. In general, most of the world's markets lost since new year’s, while the Slovenian SBITOP stock index gained 1.36 percent. However, it is true that yesterday, on the day of a major correction on world markets, the Ljubljana stock market was closed.
Brussels sets anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel products
For the next five years, Brussels imposed new anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese steel products. A similar but temporary measure adopted by the European Commission in August last year, the investigation showed that Chinese importers greatly lower steel prices in France, Belgium and some other countries.
Source:STA
SERBIA
NBS: Key policy rate kept on hold
At its yesterday’s meeting, the NBS Executive Board voted to keep the key policy rate on hold, at 3.5%. In making the decision, the Executive Board was guided by the new, February inflation projection and its factors, and the effects of past monetary policy easing. In December, inflation stood at the target midpoint of 3.0% y-o-y, this being its average value in 2017. Under the February central projection as well, year-on-year inflation will continue to move within the target tolerance band until the end of the projection horizon (in the next two years), NBS said in a report.
Source: NBS
Tender for contractor for Belgrade subway in 2020?
The construction of the first line of the Belgrade subway will begin in 2020, Mayor Sinisa Mali. As Beoinfo reports, the starting terminus will be located in Makisko Polje. There will be two lines, one with 22, the other with 20 kilometers. The City of Belgrade has prepared special analyses and studies necessary for defining the said routes for the first time. This primarily pertains to the “smart plan”, the City of Belgrade Transport Master Plan, adopted last year.
Source: Ekapija
MK Group biggest exporter of grains in 2017 as well
The Serbian agrarian sector exported over 2.5 million tons of grains and oil plants to the Europe and the world in 2017. The exports of MK Group and its members MK Commerce and Agroglobe make up a third of the total amount, placing the company in the top spot on the list of exporters of grains, as shown by the data available to the Serbian Grains association. As MK Group announced, the total export of all grains in Serbia in 2017 amounted to 1.7 million tons, of which nearly 25% was exported by Miodrag Kostic's companies. Next on the list are Delta Agrar with 205,911 tons and Konzul with 165,396 tons.
Source: Ekapija
