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

Bulgaria

• According to government officials, Bulgarian exports of military hardware increased by 50% in 2015 and reached €640 million, compared to the previous year.
• Bulgaria-Romania Danube Bridge 2 project, with having 1.8 million vehicles traffic since June 2013, generates € 430 million in revenue.
• Bulgarian National Bank announced that foreign direct investment in Bulgaria decreased by 36.6% in the first quarter of 2016 with € 371.3 million, compared to the same period in 2015. 
• Bulgarian state employment agency expressed the unemployment rate to drop to 9.3% in April, better performance than the previous month. There are 305,162 people unemployed in the country. 
• Bulgaria’s GDP grew by 2.9% in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the previous year, announced by Bulgarian National Statistics Institute. 
• China plans to invest around € 20 million in Bulgarian Burgas port to facilitate as a logistic hub for trading in goods. 
• European Commission expects Bulgaria’s GDP to grow by 2% in 2016 and 2.4% in 2017.

Georgia

• National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) announced that Georgia’s exports reached $ 608 million during the January-April period in 2016. Georgia’s top trading partners were Turkey ($475 million), Canada ($450 million) and Russia ($256 million).
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revised its economic growth forecast for Georgia as 3.4% growth for 2016, 3.9& for 2017.
• Geostat expressed that the country’s GDP grew by 3.4% in March, compared to the same month in 2015. The estimated real GDP average growth equaled 2.3% for the first quarter quarter of 2016 year-on-year.

Greece

• According to Greek statistics service (ELSTAT), Greek economy slowed by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the same period in the previous year. 
• ELSTAT announced that the unemployment rate in the country dropped to 24.2% from 24.4% in February. 

Romania

• Romanian National Prognosis Commission mentioned that the country’s GDP will grow by 4.2% this year to 4.7% in 2019.
• Kaufland, the German retailer, plans to invest € 110.6 million in Romania with hiring 1,000 people in 2016. The total number of employees could thus reach 17,000.
• According to Romania’s National Bank, the foreign direct investment reached € 775 million at the end of March, 2016. Despite the increase, total investments in the first quarter of 2016 decreased by 12.4% compared to the same period of the last year. 
• Romania’s GDP increased 4.2% in the first quarter of 2016, compared to year on year basis. The country recorded the highest annual economic growth among European Union countries. 
• EBRD revised its expectations for Romania’s economy to grow by 4% in 2016, which was 3.7% according to the previous forecast in November 2015. 

Russia

• LeEco, Chinese internet and smartphone conglomerate, plans to enter the Russian market with $ 100 million worth investment. 

Turkey

• Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) announced that the volume of Saudi investments in Turkey has reached $ billion. The country aims to have $ 25 billion by the end of 2023. The investments are mainly in real estate sector.
• Turkish Finance Minister Naci Agbal expressed that the country’s budget surplus increased to $ 1.83 billion in April. 
• According to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Turkey’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.9% from 11.2% in February. 
• Bank of China, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, plans to start operations in Turkey by the end of the year with $ 106 million capital. 
• The World Bank expects Turkey’s economy to grow 3.5% in 2016, slower than the previous year (4%). The forecasts of the bank for 2017 remains as 3.5% growth. 

Ukraine

• Ukraine’s State Property Fund expressed that the country plans to privatize Odessa Portside Plant, state-owned fertilizer producer, by setting a starting price of $ 522 million for the auction.
• The European Investment Bank intends to invest € 800 million in some projects in Ukraine during the year. The funding mostly covers the public sector including development of transport infrastructure, energy and environmental projects. 
• The EBRD sets its economic growth for Ukraine as 2% in 2016 and 2.5% in 2017.

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BTSDB)

• BTSDB and the Bank of China (BoC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on May 3, 2016. According to BTSDB, the purpose of the Memorandum is to facilitate the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two banks in the areas of common interest, including the exchange of know-how and good practices and exploring co-financing opportunities in infrastructure, transportation, energy and communications sectors.