What's happening in Black Sea? - March, 2016

Bulgaria

• Bulgarian National Bank announced that foreign direct investments in Bulgaria decreased 86.1% year on year in January with € 44.9 million. The largest net direct investment inflows in Bulgaria in the first month of 2016 were from Germany and the United Kingdom.
• According to Bulgarian National Statistics Institute, the country’s GDP increased 3% in 2015, compared to the previous year by reaching € 86.3 billion.

Georgia

• Georgia’s first olive processing factory has opened by the help of Georgian diaspora with a total investment around $ 2.1 million. 
• National Statistics Service of Georgia (Geostat) announced the major investor countries in 2015. According to the data, the country attracted $ 1.351 billion in 2015, with a 6% increase compared to the previous year. Top five investor countries in Georgia for 2015 were Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Turkey. 
• Geostat expressed that Georgia’s exports reached to $ 281 million in the first two months of 2016, 2% decline compared to the same period in 2015. The institute also mentioned that the country’s GDP rose by 0.8% in the first month of 2016. 
• Germany is planning to loan € 135 million and € 5 million grant to Georgia for the implementation of investment projects, mainly in energy, infrastructure and agriculture.

Greece

• According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Economic Impact Report 2016, Greece’s tourism sector will contribute € 46.7 billion to the country’s GDP with creating 529,000 jobs directly by 2026. Travel and tourism sectors formed 401,000 new jobs in 2015, which was 11.3% of total employment. 
• Greece’s national statistics service expressed that the country’s unemployment rate reached 24.4% in 2015’s last quarter.
• Fitch Ratings confirmed Greece’s long term foreign and local currency rating as CCC.

Romania

• Romania is planning to get € 48 million from the World Bank in order to reduce the discharge of nutrients into water bodies, with the approval of the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on March 28th. 
• According to the study by Ernst & Young (EY), Romania’s merges and acquisitions (M&A) grew by 23% to $ 3.65 billion in 2015. The most attractive areas were the IT, energy and mining, real estate and healthcare.
• Romanian Association of Credit Brokers (ARBC) informed that the Romanian credit brokers intermediated € 291 million, resulting 6% of the total market. To compare, this number reaches 40% in Central Europe, 70% in Western Europe and 90% in the US. 
• Indian businessman A.S. Bindra, the chairman of the IBS Group, plans to invest $ 200 million in poultry sector in Bralia region of Romania, with generating around 1,000 jobs. 
• The net investments in Romania’s economy reached € 16 billion in 2015, 8.4% increase compared to 2014.
• European Union’s Statistical Office (Eurostat) expressed that Romania’s GDP rose by 3.8% in the last quarter of 2015, which made the country record the third largest growth in EU. 
• European Commissioner for Regional Policies Corina Cretu mentioned that European Commission plans to give € 150 million to Romania in order to build three regional hospitals. 

Russia

• Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed that the total amount of Finish investments in Russia is over $12 billion. 
• The Partnership Banking Center starts its operations as Russia’s first financial institution established upon Islamic banking principles in Kazan. 
• Standard & Poor’s (S&P) confirmed Russia’s credit rating as BB+ with a negative outlook. 
• According to Sputnik, Russian news agency, Chinese firms have invested more than $ 1.9 billion in Russia’s Far East development projects.

Turkey

• Calik Holding, Turkish company active in the sectors of energy, telecom, textiles, construction, finance and mining, is planning to expand its energy investments in Georgia. The company already invested $ 230 million to build a combined-cycle power plant in Gardabani province in Georgia. 
• According to Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Turkey is seeking a $ 1 billion worth-investment deal with American investors after the visit done by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the United States (the US). The country has attracted $ 1.5 billion US investments in 2015. 
• Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced the unemployment rate of Turkey for 2015 as 10.3%, double digits after 4 years. 
• Fitch Ratings affirmed Turkey's long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings at "BBB-" and "BBB", respectively with a stable outlook.

Ukraine

• Ukraine’s Finance Minister expressed that the country’s economy shrank by 10% in 2015. Ukraine’s war-torn economy was troubled by the currency’s steep drop against the dollar. 
• The US company Cargill is planning to invest $ 130 million to build a grain terminal.