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Swedish funds have billions of euros of investor money frozen in Russia

Prosperity Capital and East Capital, who were pioneering investment funds in Russian stocks, have billions of euros of Western investment money frozen in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

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Bond investors rush into high yielding bonds on receding EM debt crisis fears, but the polycrisis pressure is still on

The polycrisis has eased off and the US Fed signalled that it will slow rate hikes as inflation appears to be peaking. That is good news for EM markets and investors have been buying high yielding debt as default fears abate.

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Gazprom unveils its biggest investment programme in eight years as it begins to reorientate to the east

Gazprom announced its biggest investment programme since 2014 of $35bn as the company prepares to embark on major capital-intensive work that may include new pipelines to Europe and China and suggests is may be expecting higher earnings from Europe.

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Ukraine plunged into darkness as Russia launches a renewed ferocious missile attack on its power stations

Ukraine braces for its worst winter since World War 2, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as the country suffers another wave of virulent Russian strikes.

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MOSCOW BLOG: Symbolic sanctions

The European Commission announced the price for the mooted gas price cap at €275/MWh (€2,974/kcm). That is high as is the anticipated oil price cap of $60-$70. The result is neither caps will make much difference to Russia.

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Is the Kremlin betting on Wildberries to consolidate e-commerce as foreign players exit Russia?

After a hugely successful couple of years, Wildberries dominates the Russian e-commerce market. bne IntelliNews looks into the company's rise and its prospects for further growth as foreign competitors pull out of Russia.

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Schengen decision looms for Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia

As hopes of a positive decision on December 8 fade, the three Southeast European countries are making a final push to persuade Schengen members to admit them.

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Ukraine faces one of worst declines in GDP from a war, says EBRD

The contraction in Ukraine’s GDP will be among the worst 10-20% of those in conflicts in the last 200 years, the development bank predicts in its 2022/23 Transition Report.

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News

Government's belated proposal leaves out protection for anonymous whistleblowing or for whistleblowing of non-criminal transgressions.

Getting the CSTO to send military assistance to Armenia and to condemn Azerbaijan's attacks were two of Yerevan's fundamental demands going into the summit.

Hungarian premier Viktor Orban reiterated Hungary’s opposition to the EU’s efforts to raise cash for Ukraine on financial markets, and says its parliament will ratify Sweden and Finland's Nato membership in 'a month and something'.

Austria and Sweden are expected to veto enlargement of the Schengen are to Romania and Bulgaria at the EU Council meeting in December.

Ahead of Wales World Cup match, focus is again on whether Iranian players will sing national anthem.

Tech

While Ukraine ranks third worldwide in the 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Web3 startups with roots in this country have raised nearly $1bn in investments over the past four years

The Slush 100 programme is a pitching competition for tech startups in their early stages of development but this year's winners of a €1mn prize, UK registered Immigram, was stripped of its award simply because its founders are Russian.

Move follows criticism authorities have adopted ‘Taliban-style’ restrictions on tight-fitting clothes, dyed hair and beauty accessories such as false nails or eyelashes.

Acquiring Fortech, one of Romania’s largest independent digital engineering firms, is part of GlobalLogic’s strategy to establish a wider European footprint.

International IT companies that have quit the Russian market setting up in Serbia alongside Russian tech companies.

Opinion

The main message of Bosnia’s October elections was a decisive rebuke for hardliners, with voters seeking practical economic cooperation to raise living standards and counteract mass emigration.

The vision for me of the weekend opening of the World Cup in Qatar was of Turkish President Erdogan warmly welcoming his Egyptian counterpart, Sisi. The two have long been rivals and have very different visions of democracy in the region.

Twenty odd years back, Ron Atkinson, doyen among cigar-chomping and sheepskin-coated British football managers, was parachuted in, mid-season, to help bottom-of-the-league Nottingham Forest avoid the drop. The team was relegated after losing 8-1.

Consultancy says economy could face hard landing even if it convinces Brussels to release funding frozen over its abuse of the rule of law.

Incumbent does not aspire to become a political reformer, but an economic one with a Singapore-style focus on economic modernisation under authoritarian rule.

Data

Analyst says pre-election pressure could arise for more monetary easing.

The Kremlin secretly commissioned a series of focus groups to probe public attitudes about the war in Ukraine, and the findings aren’t encouraging for Russia’s president, Meduza reports.

Survey shows widespread indifference. Just 28% of respondents are enthusiastic about joining the EU, while 19% hope accession negotiations fail.

Moldova’s trade balance came under strong pressure from high energy prices and the poor harvest.

Russia’s international reserves rose to $552.1bn rising by 1.9% (or $10.5bn) over the week as of November 11, the Central Bank of Russia accounced.

Features

According to one Russian official, Belarus and Russia's bilateral trade for January-September 2022 increased by 9%. Belarus and Russia will continue their economic integration this year and are likely to push other post-Soviet countries to follow.

Belarus is one of the world’s largest hubs for “Shadow Diplomacy”, where foreign countries employ businessmen to further their business interests with the regime. Similarly, Belarus is also engaged in its fair share of shadow diplomacy abroad.

The countries have agreed to systematise defence cooperation.

Belarus is planning to modernise its agricultural sector, which could help it keep its comparative advantage. However, sanctions are looming.

EU’s foreign policy chief is latest high-level Western official to visit Central Asia.

Blogs

While old foe Netanyahu was out of office, Turkey’s president restored relations with Israel. But Netanyahu is back.

Weekly mass protests and the ‘Moldova Leaks’ scandal have put the government under pressure. Its response risks undermining its reformist credentials.

The president’s father (the former president) is stealing the show. Plus, the latest on efforts to get Turkmen gas to Europe. Eurasianet’s weekly briefing.

Story breaks that ultra-nationalist spoke on phone with bombing suspect. Erdogan officials, meanwhile, point finger at US citing Washington’s connections with Kurdish militants.

Ruling parties are turning state broadcasters into propaganda mouthpieces, spreading disinformation, and using friendly private or state-owned companies to build sycophantic media empires.

bneGREEN

Euro sustainable bond issuance in 2023 is not likely to repeat the growth rates seen in the last few years. While governments and agencies could slightly accelerate ESG issuance in 2023, financial institutions' ESG bond supply will lose some steam.

AmonRa wants to raise funds to finance its expansion in Romania and in other Southeast European countries.

COP finished two days late on November 20 without any new agreements on climate change targets or emissions reductions, although a deal was hammered out to set up an as yet uncosted loss and damage fund.

Reducing coal consumption is the central challenge to achieving the world’s climate targets, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told COP27.

The UN has identified greenwashing by business and finance as the biggest danger facing the race to net zero, urging them to avoid a toxic cover-up and to ensure that any climate pledges they keep are in line with the 1.5-degree targets.

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