SLOVENIA
Slovenia's economy expanded by 3.8% in Q2
Ljubljana, 31 August - Driven by external trade, Slovenia's economy expanded by 3.8% in the second quarter of the year over the same period a year ago, while the seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 4.3% year-on-year and by 0.8% from the previous quarter, the Statistics Office reported.
Source: STA
Slovenia's survey unemployment down to 5.2% in Q2
Ljubljana, 31 August - Slovenia's survey unemployment rate stood at 5.2% in the second quarter of the year, a 0.7 percentage point drop compared to the quarter before. 54,000 persons were unemployed by ILO standards, a decrease of 11.6% on the first quarter and a drop of 18.1% year-on-year.
Source: STA
Annual inflation at 1.8% in August
Ljubljana, 31 August - Slovenia's annual inflation rate declined to 1.8% in August from 1.9% in July, with consumer prices dropping 0.1% on average at the monthly level. Higher prices of fuel remained the main driving force of annual inflation.
Source: STA
Sava Re half-year net profit drops 17% to EUR 14.2m
Slovenia's second largest insurance and reinsurance group Sava Re reported on Friday EUR 14.2m in net profit for the first half of the year, a 17.2% drop year-on-year. The group, which lost EUR 4.6m due to the hailstorm that hit the south-east of the country in June, saw gross premiums rise 3.7% to EUR 308.6m.
Source: STA
French LDC eyeing Slovenian poultry group
Slovenia's leading food processing company, poultry group Perutnina Ptuj, may soon be acquired by the French LDC group, Europe's largest poultry company, according to a report by news portal Siol.
Source: STA
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Stocks snap 4-day winning streak after report says Trump to back tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods; Europe in red as well
Stocks snapped a four-day winning streak Thursday after a report said President Donald Trump would support moving ahead with additional tariffs on Chinese imports as early as next week. Wall Street also looked ahead to a U.S.-Canada trade deal deadline set for Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 137.65 points to 25,986.92 while the S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent to 2,901.13. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.3 percent to 8,088.36 after reaching a record high. Jobless claims rose slightly to 213,000 last week, but remained near multi-decade lows as the underlying trend still points to a tightening labor market. Personal income rose 0.3 percent in July. Shares of Electronic Arts plunged more than 9.5 percent after the video-game company delayed the release of ""Battlefield V,"" a popular game, and adjusted its fiscal 2019 guidance for net bookings. European stocks finished Thursday's session in the red, as investors monitored corporate earnings and a looming deadline for a U.S.-Canada trade deal. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended down 0.32 percent provisionally, with the majority of the region's sectors in negative territory. Telecoms led the losses, off 1.7 percent, with almost all of the sector's stocks closing lower. Looking at individual stocks, Swiss asset management giant GAM was the biggest loser on the pan-European benchmark after Credit Suisse halved its price target for the stock. On Tuesday, GAM said it would next month begin the liquidation of the absolute return funds it froze in July after suspending Investment Director Tim Haywood. Shares slumped 10.83 percent. Traders have also been keeping abreast of fresh corporate earnings releases. Swedish radiosurgery firm Elekta was among the worst performers in Europe, off 10.5 percent, after posting an unexpected profit miss. The firm's first-quarter profit fell to 238 million Swedish krona ($26 million) from 281 million.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA
Government to announce best bidder for RTB Bor today
The Government of Serbia will announce the best bidder for RTB Bor today, on August 31, Beta learns at the Government of Serbia. The announcement will be made at the press conference to be held at the Government of Serbia at 11 am. Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic will speak at the conference, and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali will be present as well.
Source: Ekapija
State to reactivate project of TPP Kolubara B
Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic stated that Serbia would reactivate the project of Kolubara B and the construction of a new thermal power plant of around 350 MW. Antic said that the Work Group for the running of the Kolubara B project had been formed a day before at a session of the Government of Serbia. As soon as next week, we are dedicating ourselves to reviving this project, initiated several decades ago in Kalenic, and building a new thermal power plant – Antic told the press in Obrenovac, where the overhaul of Block A4 was finished today.
Source: Ekapija
Agrokor selling its business premises in Serbia
While the situation with Agrokor is once again getting complicated in Zagreb, in Serbia, the collapsed corporation of Ivica Todoric continues to sell its business premises and facilities. Through its companies in Serbia, Agrokor owns substantial assets that are not in function or the company does not need it. We are talking about land, warehouse, various facilities. There are no legal obstacles to selling these assets because they are Agrokor’s property and no-one questions this, says the source Vecernje Novosti close to the Serbian Government.
Source: Serbiamonitor
