SLOVENIA
Exports, imports up year-on-year in July
Ljubljana, 7 September - Slovenia's exports in July were up 16.3% year-on-year to EUR 2.7bn, while imports were up 15.2% to EUR 2.6bn. In the first seven months of the year, both exports and imports increased by 11.6% compared to the same period last year, the Statistics Office said on Friday.
Source: STA
FinMin nominee vows to continue fiscal consolidation
Andrej Bertoncelj said his priorities were to continue with fiscal consolidation and a comprehensive, budget-neutral tax restructuring, create a stable financial system, and overhaul the state asset management strategy as he was grilled by the parliamentary Finance Committee as the candidate for finance minister on Wednesday.
Source: STA
Good business environment priority for economy minister candidate
Economy minister candidate Zdravko Počivalšek, who has held the post in the outgoing government, highlighted a competitive business environment, the use of EU funds and the management of state assets as top priorities of his next term at the hearing at the parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee on Thursday.
Source: STA
France's Coface to buy SID Bank's insurance arm
Slovenia's development and export bank has signed a deal to sell its credit insurance company SID - Prva Kreditna Zavarovalnica to French company Coface.
Source: STA
Labour minister nominee to raise minimum wage at 4.5% rate
Ksenija Klampfer, the nominee for labour, family, social affairs and equal opportunities minister, told the relevant parliamentary committee on Wednesday that she would make an effort for the minimum wage to grow in the next two years at an annual rate of 4.5%. She said much would depend on constructive social dialogue.
Source: STA
INTERNATIONAL MARKES
Nasdaq falls for a third day as Amazon, Apple and chip stocks get hit; Nasdaq and S&P 500 fall as Netflix leads steep tech sell-off; European stocks close lower amid trade concerns, emerging market turbulence
Stocks mostly fell on Thursday as tech shares added to steep losses seen in the previous session while global trade fears lingered. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.9 percent as Amazon and Apple fell 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. The index is on track to fall 2.5 percent for the week and has posted three straight days of losses. The S&P 500 declined 0.4 percent as tech fell 1 percent. Facebook shares also declined 2.8 percent on Thursday, while Alphabet dropped 1.3 percent.The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a slight gain, however, rising 20 points. Chipmakers were among the worst-performing tech stocks. Micron Technology dropped 10 percent, while Lam Research and Applied Materials fell 6.7 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. These stocks fell after a Morgan Stanley analyst and an executive at KLA-Tencor issued demand warnings for the semiconductor space. Stocks in Europe closed lower Thursday on the back of ongoing concerns over potential new U.S. tariffs on China and a sell-off in emerging markets. The pan-European Stoxx 600 extended losses to hit a session low, closing provisionally down 0.59 percent. Basic resources stocks led Europe lower, down 1.75 percent, as traders continued to worry over the possibility of a trade war between two of the world's largest economies. Mining firm BHP Billiton and copper producer Aurubis were the worst sectoral performers, both down around 5 percent. Looking at individual stocks, British engineering firm Weir Group was the worst performer in Europe, tumbling 8.6 percent after reporting a weakening in demand for original equipment. French aircraft engine manufacturer Safran led the gains, up by 6.37 percent after reporting solid first-half earnings.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA
NBS: Serbia's c-bank holds key repo rate at 3.0%
Serbia's central bank said on Thursday it decided to keep its key repo rate unchanged at 3.0%. In making such a decision, the executive board was primarily guided by the expected inflation movement and its underlying factors, as well as the effects of past monetary policy easing,the central bank, NBS, said in a statement. Inflation in Serbia is expected to remain below the middle of the 1.5%-4.5% target band over the next two years, NBS noted.
Source: SeeNews
New minimum wage to be announced on September 10
The proposition to increase minimum wage in Serbia is still being worked on and the decision will most likely be announced on September 10, 2018 after the Social-Economic Council session, the President of The Serbian Association of Employers Srdjan Drobnjakovic said. Current minimum wage is at RSD 24,882 or RSD 143 per hour and minimum monthly wage is RSD 24,800. 350,000 workers in Serbia earn this wage, our of who 30,000 are public servants.
Source: SeeNews
RTB Bor investment will go to budget indirectly
Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic has refuted the claims that RTB Bor tender was “staged” and that the Government budget won't see any income from the Zijin investment. She added that USD 200 million of debt from the pre-packaged sale are paid off. One part from that amount would go indirectly to the government budget through the investment into companies RTB Bor is indebted to, such as EPS and others.
Source: Ekapija
