What's happening in Black Sea? - September, 2015

Bulgaria

• Bozhidar Lukarski, Bulgarian Minister of Economy expressed that the country’s debt grows by around 2-3% of the GDP every year. The country is currently facing with a problem of “grey economy”, which varies between of 15-30% according to Kiril Domuschiev, Chairperson of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB).
• International investments are growing in Bulgaria. Copenhagen Airports has announced they will increase their planned investments in Bulgaria's Varna and Burgas airports from € 106 million to € 140 million in order to bring the airport and its facilities up to date and to deal with the constantly increasing passenger traffic.
• Bulgarian Central Bank announced that foreign direct investments in the first seven months of 2015 reached to € 907.3 million, equals to 2.1% of GDP. 
• Kaufland, German hypermarket chain, opened 54th store in Bulgaria. The company has already invested 1.2 billion Bulgarian Lev and employs around 6,000 people in the country. 
• National Statistical Institute (NSI) expressed that Bulgarian economy grew by 0.5% in the Q2 of 2015. 

Georgia

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered Georgian Government a loan of $ 75 million in order to increase savings and better use of internal resources. 
• Georgian-Russian relationship in terms of economy is getting softer. Georgian Government is delighted to express that Russian tourists has spent more than 750 million Georgian Lari in 2015. 
• Georgia’s National Statistics Department announced that foreign direct investment in the country grew by 81% in 2Q of 2015, compared to the same period of 2014. 
• In the first seven months of 2015, Georgia’s economic growth slowed to 2.6%, which was 6.2% in the same period of the previous year. 

Greece

• Moody’s has maintained its junk “Caa3” credit rating for Greek government debt, although has upgraded its outlook.
• The employment in Greece increased by 1.2% in Q2 of 2015 compared to 1Q of the year. Total unemployment in the country announced as 25.2% in June.
• Standard & Poor’s confirmed Greek long term and short term sovereign credit ratings as CCC+.

Romania

• According to Alexandru Nastase, State Secretary for Foreign Investment and Public-Private Partnership Department, foreign direct investments in Romania reached to € 2 billion in the first seven months of 2015 with 60% increase compared to the same period in last year.
• According to Deloitte, Romaina ranked as 4th most attractive market for investors.
• Skanska, Swedish real estate development and construction group, opened its second building in Bucharest with € 35 million worth investment. 
• Belgian company Sonaca is planning to invest € 84 million by 2019 in order to produce parts for the Airbus aircraft wings. 

Russia

• In the first half of 2015, foreign direct investments in Russia decreased by 46.1% compared to same period of the last year, lowered to $ 2,806 billion.
• Fitch announced that they do not have any plan to chance Russian sovereign credit rating and kept it as BBB- with a negative outlook. 

Turkey

• Fitch Ratings remained Turkey’s credit rating unchanged as BBB- as the lowest investment grade. 
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is continuing to support the agribusiness sector in Turkey with a € 50 million loan to Dogus Cay company, local tea and snacks producer. To date, the EBRD has invested over € 6 billion in Turkey through close to 160 projects in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, industry and finance. 
• According to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), Turkey’s exports decreased by 4.9% in August, compared to the same month in 2014. Turkish exports from January to August of 2014 totaled $104.43 billion.

Ukraine

• World Bank revised Ukraine’s GDP to fall by 12% for 2015. 
• Credit rating agency S&P declared Ukraine's sovereign debt to be in "selective default" because of the war-torn nation's debt restructuring negotiations.
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to provide $ 40 million to finance the expansion of the existing grain terminal at Odesa port.