In Brief
Shell stays in Greece and reshapes strategy Oil company Shell announced yesterday its determination to remain in the Greek market but with a new strategy, contrary to rumors about its departure from the country. In statements made yesterday in Athens following a meeting of officials of the parent company with the Greek subsidiary, the UK-Dutch giant said it will change its priorities in the local market as of 2009, based on a new study to be completed by the end of the year. «Shell has begun a strategic study in the downstream sector in Greece. Its personnel has been appropriately informed and its day-to-day business is conducted regularly, therefore there is no change in transactions with customers,» the company announced. Reports had linked the Competition Commission’s proposal for a fine on Shell and BP for having a common discount policy with the possibility of Shell’s departure from Greece. Serb central bank holds its key rate BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s central bank left its key interest rate on hold at 15.75 percent yesterday, citing high inflation and expectations of budget spending hikes that it said should prevent monetary policy easing any time soon. Central bank Governor Radovan Jelasic said the bank expected core inflation, which excludes state-controlled prices, to slow to 8.7 percent at the end of the year, still well above the bank’s 3-to-6-percent target. He said a government plan to boost pensions by 10 percent this year posed another risk that would prevent easing from the highest cost of borrowing in Central and Eastern Europe until early next year. «High inflationary expectations as well as uncertainty about future fiscal policy is not going to permit monetary policy easing,» he said. «We shall maintain restrictive monetary policy in order to reach target core inflation in the first half of 2009.» Gold imports up August gold imports to Turkey jumped to 47.2 tons, the highest recorded monthly figure, as a fall in prices buoyed physical demand, exchange data showed. Bullion imports to Turkey, one of the top three consumers of the metal, shot up by 70 percent year-on-year in August and compared with 10.7 tons in July, the Istanbul Gold Exchange (IAB) figures showed. «The main reason for this jump is the spot price has fallen below $800 an ounce from above $900 in August,» said Serafettin Ince, Istanbul-based dealer at Aycan Forex. (Reuters) Romanian deficit The Romanian government recorded a consolidated budget deficit of around 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first eight months of the year, Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian said yesterday. This compares with Vosganian’s estimate of a deficit of 0.64 percent of GDP in January-July and a full-year target ceiling of 2.3 percent. (Reuters) Bosnia power surplus At least 10 companies have applied to buy 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours of surplus electricity from Bosnia’s largest power utility, a top company official said yesterday. The state-owned Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH) expects to earn at least 135 million euros from the sale of its electricity surplus in 2009, said General Manager Amer Jerlagic. (Reuters)
