SLOVENIA
Slovenia reviewing port rail track project on request of EIB
Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek has said that Slovenia was reviewing the Koper port rail project on the request of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The latter is reportedly unhappy about the course of a track, the scale of the project and the price tag.
Source: STA
Overview of latest GDP growth forecasts for Slovenia
The latest GDP growth forecasts indicate Slovenia's economy will expand at a rate of 4.2% to 4.5% this year before slowing down by about a percentage point in 2019. Slovenia's central bank is the latest forecaster to revise its projections.
Source: STA
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Dow dives 350 points, closes at new low for the year after Fed hikes rates; Europe stocks close higher after Italy budget breakthrough; Fed meeting in focus; GSK jumps 4.4%
U.S. stocks sank Wednesday in a wild session after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight lending rate for the fourth time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 351.98 points and closed at its lowest level so far this year at 23,323.66, erasing a 380 point gain that came prior to the Fed decision. The broad S&P 500 index also closed at a 2018 low, falling 1.5 percent to finish at 2,506.96 as technology and banks stocks rolled over. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1 percent to 6,636.83, its own 2018 closing low with shares of Apple losing more than 3 percent. For traders, the Fed's statement and Chairman Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference did not suggest that the central bank would slow its pace of rate hikes as quickly as some had hoped. FedEx shares were slammed by more than 12 percent after CEO Richard Smith blamed ""bad political choices"" for weakness in its overseas business. FedEx lowered its 2019 earnings guidance and reported weakness in its international business, putting the stock on pace for its worst day on Wall Street in more than a decade. Social media gaint Facebook also fell sharply on Wednesday. Its stock fell more than 7 percent Wednesday after admitting it allowed other big tech companies to read users' private messages. European stocks were higher Wednesday, after Italy and the European Union reached a breakthrough on Rome's 2019 budget plans and as traders geared up for the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision. The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed 0.46 percent higher, with most sectors and major bourses in positive territory. Britain's GlaxoSmithKline said it planned to split into two businesses on Wednesday. One side would deal with prescription drugs and vaccines and the other would focus on over-the-counter products. The revamp comes after the London-listed company formed a new joint venture with Pfizer's consumer health division. Shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 4.3 percent.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA
Decree on payment of pension bonus by November 2019 adopted
The Government of Serbia has adopted the decree enabling pensioners with the lowest earnings to get bonuses of 5% by November 2019. Recipients of old-age, early retirement, disability and survivor pensions, whose pensions between December and November 2019 amount to up to RSD 34,003.90, are to be paid pension bonuses – says the decree published on the government's website.
Source: Ekapija
RSD 15 billion from budget for subsidies for investors in 2019
The model of subsidizing investors, which was patented in 2006 by the then minister of economy of regional development, Mladjan Dinkic, modeled after the Irish and the Slovakian model, is to peak next year. The 2019 budget features RSD 15 billion for subsidies to private companies, which is around RSD 2.5 billion more than 2018.
Source: Ekapija
New Fiat model not to be ready before 2020
There have been public speculations recently about the announcement of a new Fiat model, which is allegedly to start being produced in 2019. Danas, however, writes that the new model cannot be expected before 2020. Certain local media announced that the production of a small Fiat SUV will begin in Kragujevac in 2019, Danas writes, as reported by N1.
Source: Ekapija
High speed Belgrade-Budapest railway delayed by year
The Hungarian government has decided to announce a new tender for the modernization of the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railroad. The works will therefore start only in 2020, a year later than planned, Beta reported on Wednesday citing MTI. The projected modernization cost of 152 kilometers between Budapest and the border with Serbia amounted to 578 billion Hungarian forints (EUR 1.79 billion) in May 2018.
Source: b92
