Central & Eastern Europe Archives

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Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets Review: Policy Change Needed In Central & Eastern Europe

SEEKING THE BRIGHT SIDE By Justin Keay Little of the news coming out of Central and Eastern Europe right now is upbeat, but concerted policy efforts by regional governments could garner some economic reward in 2013. These ...

Banking

Hungarian Banks’ Lending Capacity Reduced By Backtrack

MILESTONES: HUNGARY By Paul Mackintosh The Hungarian government threw the country’s banking sector into disarray in mid-October by reneging on an agreement with local banks to halve from 2013 the crisis levy imposed on them. Matolcsy blames EU ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Roundtable: Turkey Banking And Finance

AN INVESTMENT-GRADE STORY Moderated by Dan Keeler Global Finance hosted Turkey’s central bank governor and Turkish financial executives at a roundtable in Istanbul in September to discuss economic development, the importance of Turkey’s upgrade to investment grade and ...

Banking

Milestone: Bulgaria Puts Bid To Join Eurozone On Hold

MILESTONES: BULGARIA By Valentina Pasquali With the eurozone debt crisis dragging on and membership in the currency union becoming increasingly less appealing, the Bulgarian government recently froze its bid to join the eurozone. Bulgarian economy is outperforming its ...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Milestone: Slovenia: Next In Line For A Bailout?

MILESTONES: SLOVENIA By Valentina Pasquali With all eyes on the much larger Spain and Italy, Slovenia might actually turn out to be the next eurozone country in line for a bailout. Bets are on as to whether ...

Banking

Newsmaker: First Democratically Elected PM An Unknown Quantity

NEWSMAKERS: GEORGIA By Valentina Pasquali Over the past few years, investors’ love story with Georgia flourished under the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, who spearheaded a sweeping liberal economic agenda since coming to power a decade ago. Bidzina ...

Banking

Newsmaker: Turkey Transitions To Investment Grade

NEWSMAKERS: TURKEY By Dan Keeler Turkey’s authorities are concerned that the economic boost provided by an upgrade to investment grade by Fitch Ratings could trigger some unwelcome side effects. Erdem Baç says he can keep inflation in check ...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Turkey: Still An Investment Darling

TURKISH DELIGHT By Justin Keay Turkey's economy is one of the few in Europe experiencing positive growth, but as the pace of economic reform slows and a rising current-account deficit looms, pundits are beginning to ask, has complacency ...

Award Winners

Awards: World’s Safest Banks 2012

ANNUAL SURVEY: DOWN, BUT NOT OUT By Andrew Cunningham Global Finance presents it annual ranking of The World’s Safest Banks. European banks still account for 20 of the World’s Safest 50 Banks, but Europe’s hold on the ...

Banking

Central Banker Report Cards 2012: Europe

By Gordon Platt, Antonio Guerrero and Anita Hawser EUROPE BELARUS Nadezhda Ermakova Grade: C Ermakova assumed the chairmanship of the central bank in August 2011 under somewhat controversial circumstances. Her predecessor, Petr Prokopovich, retired against a backdrop of spiraling inflation ...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Debt: Emerging Corporate Debt Grows

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT By Gordon Platt Global investors are creeping further out on thin ice to capture the higher yields available on bonds issued by companies in emerging markets (EM). Analysts caution that many of the ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Russia Finally Seated At The WTO Table

MILESTONES: RUSSIA By Kim Iskyan After a 19-year process, on August 22, Russia finally became a full-fledged member of the World Trade Organization. Russia expects long-term benefits from WTO membership Accession will have little impact in the short ...