Russia's National Welfare Fund accounts for almost 12% of GDP

Russia's National Welfare Fund accounts for almost 12% of GDP.

Bosnia's exports in 2020 amounted to BAM10.5bn, trade deficit to BAM6.3bn

Both imports and exports fell during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, with the steepest y/y declines in April and May.

Russian consumer confidence index drops q/q, y/y in 4Q20

Rosstat has published its quarterly consumer confidence index (CCI), which showed a q/q and y/y deterioration. The index fell to -26% in 4Q20 vs. -22% in 3Q20, whereas the level a year ago was -13%.

Turkish lira breaches HSBC’s stop-loss, Turkey ETF signalling outflows

Bank loses nominal 1.9% on short USD/TRY position.

Russia’s grain harvest may fall to 131mn tonnes in 2021 from 133mn tonnes in 2020

Western Balkans citizens legally resident in EU equal to 14% of region’s population

2.4mn people from the Western Balkans have residence permits for EU countries including 868,000 Albanians – over 30% of the country’s 2.8mn population, shows Eurostat data.

Corona-induced slump in global clothing sector dragged down Albania’s 2020 exports

Albania’s exports fell by 9.0% in 2020, with the biggest negative contribution coming from the textiles and footwear sector.

Turnover rose on Bosnia's two stock exchanges in 2020 while prices fell

Higher borrowing by the governments of Bosnia’s two entities pushed up turnover — mainly trading in government bonds and T-bills — on the Sarajevo and Banja Luka exchanges, but the main indexes dropped.

Romanian construction companies' activity slows in November after intense 2020

Romania's construction work index increased by 7.8% y/y in November, a robust growth yet slower than in previous months of the year.

75% of Montenegrins want EU membership

Support for EU accession has increase significantly compared to 2019 when about 66% of citizens were in favour shows survey commissioned by EU delegation to Montenegro.

North Macedonia's manufacturing confidence indicator down by 8.5 pp y/y in December

Confidence remains low compared to 2019, but current volume of production orders and expectations for coming months are more favourable than in November.

Romania’s industrial recovery paused in November

Romania's industrial production index edged down by 0.6% m/m in November after six months of recovery.

Labour demand down 28% y/y in Croatia in 2020

Strongest drop in demand was in the service sector, but partly offset by higher demand for occupations related to the pandemic and post-earthquake reconstruction.

Ukraine’s international reserves end 2020 at $18.1bn, up 20% y/y

The net international reserves of Ukraine as of January 1 amounted to $18.1bn, which is 19% more than at the beginning of December 2020 ($15.2bn), Head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Bohdan Danylyshyn said.

Slovenia’s dire COVID-19 situation in 4Q20 caused second economic dip

Epidemiological situation was among the worst in the euro area in the fourth quarter and required a tightening of restrictive measures, which led to another severe drop in economic activity, the Bank of Slovenia said.

Russia’s Watcom shopping index recovers some ground in December, still down by half on previous year

Russia’s Watcom shopping index, which measures foot traffic in Moscow’s major shopping malls, recovered some of the ground lost after the second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic started, but it is still down by half on last year.

Belarusian government sees $2bn of withdrawals, issues $580mn worth of bonds in 2020

Belarusian residents withdrew $1.9bn in dollars from banks during 2020, with $1.4bn being withdrawn in August alone at the start of the mass protests following the disputed August 9 presidential election, the Ministry of Finance said.

Romania’s trade gap keeps widening, although at a slower pace

Romania’s imports have decreased at a slower rate compared to exports since the crisis emerged in early 2020, but the foreign trade gap has continued to widen.

Romania’s stock exchange close to pre-crisis peak after strong rally

The blue-chip BET index topped 10,000 points again, after the upward trend at the beginning of last year was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bulgaria's retail sales fell 6.4% y/y in November

The annual fall in November was due to plunging food and motor fuels sales, but retail turnover inched up compared to October.