Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny arrested on arrival as he returns home
LONG READ: The oligarch problem
COVID-19 and Trump’s indifference helped human rights abusers in 2020
Durov rejects Western funds’ offer to buy 5%-10% of Telegram with $30bn valuation
One of Russia’s biggest wood product companies, Segezha could be Sistema’s next IPO
New Ukrainian VC firm QPDigital aims to invest up to $100 million in digital startups
EBRD investments reach record €11bn in pandemic-struck 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Lithuania
EBRD says loan to Estonia’s controversial Porto Franco project was never disbursed
Estonian premier quits after Tallinn development scandal
Czech Pirates and Mayors approve final coalition agreement for 2021 elections
OUTLOOK 2021 Czechia
BRICKS & MORTAR: Rosier future beckons for CEE retailers after year of change and disruption
OUTLOOK 2021 Hungary
Hungarian government remains silent after Capitol riots
World Bank expects modest recovery for Europe and Central Asia in 2021
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovakia
FDI inflows to CEE down 58% in 1H20 but rebound expected
Slovakia to invest €1.2bn in digitisation
BALKAN BLOG: The controversial recipe for building up Albania
Heavy flooding causes chaos in parts of Southeast Europe
Vodafone Albania plans €100mn infrastructure investments after AbCom merger
OUTLOOK 2021 Albania
Turnover rose on Bosnia's two stock exchanges in 2020 while prices fell
Storming parliaments: New Europe's greatest hits
Kyiv accuses Bosnian President Dodik of lying about icon gifted to Russian foreign minister
Sofia-based LAUNCHub Ventures holds first close of new fund on €44mn
ING THINK: Growth in the Balkans: from zero to hero again?
OUTLOOK 2020 Bulgaria
Labour demand down 28% y/y in Croatia in 2020
Zagreb Stock Exchange's Crobex10 index at highest level since March 5
OUTLOOK 2021 Kosovo
Arrera Automobili aims to launch Albania’s first supercar
World Bank revises projection for Moldova’s 2020 GDP decline to 7.2%
Moldova’s PM resigns to prepare the ground for early elections
Socialist lawmakers in Moldova scrap settlement on $1bn bank frauds
75% of Montenegrins want EU membership
Montenegro’s new ruling coalition carves up top state jobs
OUTLOOK 2021 Montenegro
North Macedonia's manufacturing confidence indicator down by 8.5 pp y/y in December
OUTLOOK 2021 North Macedonia
Transparency International warns of high corruption risk in CEE defence sectors
OUTLOOK 2021 Romania
Romania’s central bank cuts monetary policy rate by 25bp to 1.25%
Romanian construction companies' activity slows in November after intense 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Serbia
Slovenia’s opposition files no-confidence motion against Jansa cabinet
Slovenia’s government to release funds to news agency STA after EU pressure
UK Moneyhub picks Slovenia for post-Brexit European base
Slovenia’s dire COVID-19 situation in 4Q20 caused second economic dip
Turkcell denies any affiliation with $1.6bn loan in default extended by Ziraat Bank to Virgin Islands company
BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Let’s tentatively pencil in a date for Turkey’s hot money outflow
OUTLOOK 2021 Armenia
Armenia’s PM cautions conflict with Azerbaijan “still not settled” after trilateral meeting with Putin
COMMENT: Record high debt levels will slow post-coronavirus recovery, threaten some countries' financial stability, says IIF
OUTLOOK 2021 Georgia
Georgia’s political kingpin Bidzina Ivanishvili quits politics
Modern-day “Robin Hood” inspires Georgians drowning in debt
Iran’s navy conducts missile drill while analyst argues Trump even capable of nuclear strike in final days
TEHRAN BLOG: Who’s more credible? Johnson backing Trump’s Nobel chances or Iran applauding arrest warrant for US president?
Central Asia vaccination plans underwhelm, but governments look unruffled
Fears of authoritarianism as Kyrgyz populist wins landslide and backing for ‘Khanstitution’
OUTLOOK 2021 Kyrgyzstan
Mongolia's winter dzud set to be one of most extreme on record says Red Cross
Mongolian coal exports to China paralysed as Beijing demands virus testing of truck drivers
Mongolia fears economic damage as country faces up to its first local transmissions of coronavirus
Mongolia in lockdown after suffering first local coronavirus transmissions
OUTLOOK 2021 Tajikistan
China business briefing: Not happy with Kyrgyzstan
OUTLOOK 2021 Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan: How the Grinch stole New Year
Turkmenistan: The dammed united
COMMENT: Uzbekistan is being transformed, but where are the democratic reforms?
OUTLOOK 2021 Uzbekistan
Download the pdf version
More...
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is “brimming with opportunities for investment into renewable energy, airports and infrastructure, a study by international law firm CMS found.
The “2019 CMS Infrastructure Index: Bridging Continents”, produced by CMS in conjunction with data and analytics specialist inspiratia, ranks 50 countries in order of infrastructure investment attractiveness.
The report analyses data against six main criteria — economic status, sustainability and innovation, tax environment, political stability, ease of doing business and private participation — with varying weightings to assess most attractive destinations for infrastructure investment.
Amongst the potentially lucrative projects those in renewables, airport expansions and electrification of transport stand out, “as the race towards green leadership and proactive government policies gathers pace”.
This year’s report “confirms that a crucial point has been reached in the global transition into greener, smarter and more sustainable investments and assets,” a press release emailed to bne IntelliNews said.
Among the seven CEE countries included in the 2019 index, Poland has the top spot across the region for investment attractiveness, rising three points since the 2017 index.
According to the report, Poland — which still relies heavily on coal power — is making “huge strides” in the clean energy sector.
“Poland’s strong position in the index is gratifying and reflects the strength of the primary infrastructure market and the government’s support for investment in sustainable assets,” Marcin Bejm, head of infrastructure and project finance at CMS Poland, said in the report.
“Throughout the CEE region there is growing commitment to new technologies and clean energy, with encouraging signs of foreign business partnership, which bodes well for the future,” he adds.
In addition to Poland, the report singles out Russia’s “leap into the renewables sector” where Finland’s Fortum took nearly 1GW of wind and solar capacity in an auction held in May and June 2018.
Meanwhile, the report says, “a spike in Ukrainian onshore wind activity in 2019 points to a renewables market heading in the right direction”. Ukraine has thrown itself into renewable energy, partly as it needs to wean itself off Russian gas imports. More than $4.8bn has been invested into renewable energy in the last five years and half of that was invested in the last year alone.
Russia has been late into the game, but is now actively trying to catch up. The most significant change this year was when the Russian operation of the Italian owned utility Enel sold its main coal-fired power plant in October to reduce its carbon footprint dramatically and dramatically changed its energy production portfolio. At the same time the company is continuing to ramp up its investments into solar and wind in Russia. Other companies are expected to follow suit.
In another relevant segment, the CEE region has been lagging behind the western part of the continent in electric vehicle (EV) adoption and charging infrastructure, but now, according to the report, “CEE countries are making significant strides with electric vehicles following an upsurge in demand”.
Among the potentially transformative projects, Germany-based Ionity partnered with Shell last year to deploy EV charging stations in 24 European countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, while Austria’s largest electricity provider Verbund is working with Enel X, Smatrics, Greenway and OMV to develop EV charging infrastructure in Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and other countries in the CEE region, says the report.
Air transport booms
At the same time as investments into renewables are ongoing, the air transport sector is also growing fast. European budget airlines that are already well established in Central Europe are pushing deeper into the less developed Southeast European market. For longer haul flights, new routes are opening up especially to the US and China.
“The report reveals that the infrastructure market in CEE is rapidly increasing, with the region boasting the highest growth of passenger traffic in Europe,” says the press release.
“With several attractive and profitable assets, CEE countries are providing a pocket of opportunity for airport investors in 2019 … Boasting the highest growth in passenger traffic in Europe, CEE countries are announcing big airport expansion projects, with some also planning new greenfield additions, including in Romania and Lithuania.”
Serbia’s Nikola Tesla airport is seen as a new contender to become a regional hub following its acquisition by France’s Vinci, which plans to invest around €730m to build up the facility into the best-connected airport in the region. New routes have opened up from the airport since Etihad Airways' strategic investment into Jat, now renamed AirSerbia.
In neighbouring Bulgaria, there are plans to develop Sofia airport after the transport ministry finally selected a preferred bidder — consortium including Meridiam, Strabag and Munich Airport — for a 35-year concession.
Challenging environment in Romania
However, the situation is less positive in Romania, due to uncertainty over a whole raft of projects.
In Romania, the government put forward a list of 21 PPP projects, including highways, hospitals, railways, power plants and tourist resorts in February. However, the report notes that “the plan was met with scepticism, since the country lacks the necessary experience to implement PPP projects” — on top of that the ongoing political uncertainty in Romania has made it difficult to move forward with infrastructure projects.
"Increasing uncertainty in the infrastructure sector - caused by numerous stalled or cancelled projects - and a challenging regulatory environment are two of the reasons for Romania's drop from 33rd position in 2017 to 39th in 2019,” says the report.
Germany leads worldwide
In the wider European continent, Germany is ranked in first place worldwide, overtaking its neighbour the Netherlands, and European countries occupy six of the top 10 places in this year’s Index.
Elsewhere in Europe, however, CMS points out that the “Brexit-effect” is taking its toll on the UK infrastructure sector.
Alongside Germany and the Netherlands in the top five countries offering the greatest opportunities for investors are Singapore, Australia and Canada.
Worldwide, the report finds the Asia Pacific region is home to several leaders in digital infrastructure, with various hubs “vying for supremacy in the communications sector”.
In the Middle East, private investment is growing and, according to the report, the Middle East is making “significant headway in becoming a global smart and sustainable city hub”. On top of this, the region has presented ambitious solar and onshore wind projects.
In other emerging markets, there are a number of major interconnectivity projects in Latin America, while trade ambitions in Africa are boosting interconnectivity, despite fiscal constraints and limited project finance capabilities in parts of the continent.
Pressure for investment
Kristy Duane, co-head of infrastructure and project finance at CMS, talks of the “unrelenting pace” infrastructure is connecting people worldwide.
“As our 2019 report illustrates, infrastructure assets play a vital role in climate change mitigation, with top-ranked Germany coming under increasing domestic pressure to transform its infrastructure efforts to meet more ambitious targets,” she says.
In addition, as also identified by bne IntelliNews in a cover story the rise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria are becoming a top priority for infrastructure investors – however this brings with it challenges as investors navigate a complex matrix of evolving requirements and standards for different assets around the world.”
Register here to continue reading this article and 5 more for free or purchase 12 months full website access including the bne Magazine for just $250/year.
Register to read the bne monthly magazine for free:
Already registered
Password could contain only a-z0-9\+*?[^]$(){}=!<>|:-_ characters and have 8-20 symbols length.
Please complete your registration by confirming your email address.
A confirmation email has been sent to the email address you provided.
Forgotten password?
Email field can't be empty.
No user with this email address.
Access recovery request has expired, or you are using the wrong recovery token. Please, try again.
Access recover request has expired. Please, try again.
To continue viewing our content you need to complete the registration process.
Please look for an email that was sent to with the subject line "Confirmation bne IntelliNews access". This email will have instructions on how to complete registration process. Please check in your "Junk" folder in case this communication was misdirected in your email system.
If you have any questions please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
Sorry, but you have used all your free articles fro this month for bne IntelliNews. Subscribe to continue reading for only $119 per year.
Your subscription includes:
For the meantime we are also offering a free subscription to bne's digital weekly newspaper to subscribers to the online package.
Click here for more subscription options, including to the print version of our flagship monthly magazine:
More subscription options
Take a trial to our premium daily news service aimed at professional investors that covers the 30 countries of emerging Europe:
Get IntelliNews PRO
For any other enquiries about our products or corporate discounts please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
If you no longer wish to receive our emails, unsubscribe here.
Magazine annual electronic subscription
Magazine annual print subscription
Website & Archive annual subscription
Combined package: web access & magazine print annual subscription