It was just a matter of time before we saw a serious impact on the Hungarian labour market from the second wave of Covid-19. The January data suggests a slump in growth in the first quarter, despite the latest upside surprise in wages.
The news from Georgia over the past few days has been depressing. Headlines like, “Georgian opposition leader arrested” and, “opposition HQ stormed” evoke the sort of post-Soviet authoritarianism Georgia wants to put behind itself
Beijing is forcing China’s Mongolians to become Han Chinese. The Chinese Communist Party is suppressing their language, religion and culture.
There were many changes during 2020, but for Romanians it is quite clear that 2021 will not be a year of plenty.
Citizens and ruling elites of both countries are prepared to pay lip service to a shared dream but pause when confronted with the practical reality of its realisation.
What next in Georgia following the turmoil in recent days that has seen the PM quit, the leader of the opposition grabbed by security forces and Irakli Garibashvili, who is refusing to hold a snap election, made the new head of government?
There seems to be no stopping oil prices, with ICE Brent now trading well above $60/bbl. Clearly OPEC+ cuts are doing their job, while global recovery hopes are playing a big part. Will the oil price keep rising?
Romania's 2021 budget plans could hardly have been more ambitious after being constrained by the high share of rigid spending in the last few years
Poland's central bank has just released balance of payments data for December and posted a moderate €0.4bn current account surplus,. That translates to a record-high GDP surplus of 3.6% for 2020 as a whole
And don’t buy the de-dollarization story. The Turks are not rushing into FX and gold anymore simply because the banking system is no longer pumping out fresh lira.
Mayor Emomali says city hall spent $1.14mn on bus stops.
Navalny’s campaign has paused its protests and will likely focus on this year’s Duma election – which is expected to be heavily rigged – even as the leaders of loyal opposition parties are scrambling to assure the Kremlin of their loyalty.
After the mission’s visit to Russia in November 2020, the IMF released a concluding statement with its Article IV report February 9. This kind of assessment is typically conducted on an annual basis when IMF resources are requested.
Like other governments in New Europe, the Ukrainian government is hoping to stimulate the real estate sector by subsidising mortgages through a new law that was passed at the start of February.
China will play a decisive role in anointing Central Asia’s leader.
The first ESG Ranking of Russian oil and gas companies showed that the leaders in environmental and social responsibility, as well as in corporate governance are the large companies involved in international projects
After Bulgaria and Croatia, only Romania looks like a strong contender to join the eurozone this decade.
The Coalition of the Fed-Up is what in many ways defines Russian politics today, and the goal of everyone in this multi-player game of political Risk.
The protests in support of Navalny have served to highlight once again the quiet debate raging within the KPRF between the old guard and younger, more progressive elements.