Economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) promises to maintain its steady rhythm this year. Consumption, foreign direct investment, European funds and digital transformation will be the key factors for growth in the region. These are the forecasts of the participants in the annual Euromoney 2019 economic forum, quoted by Unicredit. According to forecasts, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary will show the strongest GDP growth for the region. GDP growth is projected to remain stable in most countries (around 3% or higher), albeit with some cyclical declines. Following the cyclical peak reached in 2017 (4.6% with the exception of Russia and Turkey) and average GDP growth of 3.7% in 2018, the region's economic growth is expected to remain above the potential for 2019 (around 3.2% on average), but may slow down in 2020 as a result of potentially weaker global trade.

The number of registered jobless people in Bulgaria fell to a monthly average of 202,995 last year, which is 33,757 less than in 2017 and an all-time low, the Employment Agency said. The average unemployment rate in 2018 was 6.2%, down by 1 percentage point relative to 2017. In December, the jobless people registered with the agency's labour offices numbered 201,466, translating into an unemployment rate of 6.1%, down by 1 percentage point year-on-year. In a month-on-month comparison, the number of jobless people increased by some 3,500 in December. In December, 15,322 people found a job. Job vacancies in December totalled 7,526, as 80.4% of them were in the private sector. The highest number of vacancies, 31%, are reported in the processing industry, followed by trade and automobile and motorcycle repairs (15%), and hotel and restaurant services (7.8%.)

Hungary's OTP Bank has completed financially the acquisition of Societe Generale Expressbank, the Bulgarian subsidiary of France's Societe Generale Group, and other units of the group in Bulgaria, OTP Bank said. The integration process is expected to be completed in 2020, OTP Bank said. The acquisition agreement between Societe Generale and DSK Bank, the wholly-owned Bulgarian subsidiary of OTP, was signed on August 1, as OTP agreed to acquire the Albanian and Bulgarian units of the French banking group. In Bulgaria, OTP is acquiring through DSK 99.74% of Societe Generale Expressbank and its units Societe Generale Factoring, Sogelease Bulgaria and Regional Urban Development Fund, as well as direct control over insurer Sogelife Bulgaria. Documents entered into Bulgaria's commercial register in December show that OTP Bank has increased the capital of DSK Bank by BGN 1.17 billion to ensure DSK's capital adequacy following the acquisition of Societe Generale Expressbank.

Coca-Cola European Partners will open a new financial office in Varna, Bulgaria. It will be ready in May 2019 and it will provide more than jobs for nearly 90 employees. The new jobs in Varna will be addition to the 700 existing positions that the Coca-Cola European Partner team has in Sofia. The office in Varna will undertake a number of tasks in the field of financial shared services, which will help the already existing roles and responsibilities of the office in the capital. Coca-Cola European Partners was created in 2016 as a result of the merger of Coca-Cola's three major bottling companies in Western Europe. The company produces Coca-Cola products for 13 European countries in Western Europe, including Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Coca-Cola European Partners does not bottle or sell in Bulgaria, but similarly to the bottling company for Bulgaria and the region - Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, it is developing its hub for financial services in the country.

British company Viafik plans to create a regional and international platform for the purchase of passenger tickets in Varna. At a meeting with Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Manolev the company said that investments would reach EUR 500,000. Bulgaria has been chosen as the center and project management base because of the high expertise of local IT specialists. The system will initially integrate bus services of five countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Croatia and will gradually cover other types of transport. Through the platform, tickets will be purchased online, without any change in the final price, and the ticket will be available without a paper carrier thanks to a smart phone or other digital device.

Greece's OTE group has entered into an agreement to sell its entire stake in Telekom Albania to Bulgarian company Albania Telecom Invest for a total consideration of EUR 50 million. Albania Telecom Invest AD becomes property of Spas Roussev, controlling shareholder of the Bulgarian incumbent telecom operator BTC, and by Mr. Elvin Guri, an Albania-Bulgarian investor. The transaction is expected to be closed within the first half of 2019. The agreement will be subject to the customary closing conditions, including the approval by the competent local authorities and financing. “It is a strategic decision, in the context of OTE Group’s redefined priorities and growth plans, in order to create value for all shareholders and support sustainable development,” the OTE’s chairman and chief executive officer, Michael Tsamaz noted, adding that the acquisition of the company by a strong and entrepreneurial investment group ensures its growth and creates the conditions to further strengthen its market position. Greece's Eurobank acted as OTE’s financial advisor. Telekom Albania, whose majority shareholder is OTE, Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary in Greece, operated as Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) until July 2015. The company was acquired by OTE Group in 2000. In 2009 with Deutsche Telekom acquisition of OTE it indirectly became part of Deutsche Telekom.

The US Company General Electric expressed interest in participating as potential supplier of equipment and engineer of the Belene NPP project. Bulgaria’s Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency that so far Bulgaria held talks with several potential investors, including the Chinese state-owned nuclear corporation CNNC, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP). The French company Framatome also showed interest in Belene project. Minister Petkova underlined that the parameters of the future nuclear power plant in Belene were set by the decision of the Bulgarian National Assembly. The future nuclear facility will be based on market principles without the provision of a corporate guarantee and long-term contracts from purchase of electricity.

South Korea's Samsung has concluded the sale of its 43 MWp PV portfolio in Bulgaria to Germany's KGAL and Czechia-based Portanero Invest in what is the largest deal for operational solar plants in Bulgaria to date. The transaction was officially closed on January 7, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which acted as financial sell-side adviser to Samsung, said. KGAL ESPF 4 Holding, the investment arm of KGAL, together with Portanero Invest, a company related to Czechia-based Micronix Group, have agreed to acquire from Samsung C&T Corporation its Bulgarian PV portfolio consisting of seven solar power plants for an undisclosed price, RBI said. The acquired PV portfolio consists of the managing companies of two solar power plants located close to Vratsa, in north-western Bulgaria, of 15 MWp and 10 MWp each, three solar power plants of 4 MWp each and one of 2 MWp located close to the village of Letnitsa, in north-central Bulgaria, and a 4 MWp solar power plant located close to the village of Veselinovo, in in north-central Bulgaria.

The risk of a no-deal Brexit is up sharply and the EU must step up its emergency planning, the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said. Barnier issued his stark warning in the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, the morning after the U.K. parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject the Withdrawal Agreement he and his team negotiated with Prime Minister Theresa May. "We're only 10 weeks away from the end of the month of March that is the moment chosen by the British government to become a third country," Barnier said. "We are fearing more than ever the risk of a no deal. "We must remain lucid and clear in our approach, which is why we are stepping up our efforts to be prepared for that possibility," Barnier continued, adding: "We will have to speed up our efforts working with all the stakeholders and partners who will be called on to take contingency measures to face possible consequences of that outcome." As the European Parliament debated the outcome of the vote, other senior EU officials expressed continuing dismay at the lack of any clear path forward on the British side, and the continuing disagreement over what Britain seeks in its post-EU future.

Home sales in the U.S. slumped in December, while prices inched up slightly, marking the smallest annual increase since the end of the last housing crash in 2012, according to data from brokerage Redfin. The median home price rose to $289,800 in December, a gain of 1.2 percent, the slowest monthly pace since March 2012. Sales dropped by almost 11 percent, the biggest decline for any month since 2016, Redfin said. Previously hot metropolitan areas are cooling fast. Prices dropped 7.3 percent in San Jose, California. The property market, which was surging for years as buyers fought for a limited supply of homes, is softening as inventories start to increase and buyers take more time. The jump in mortgage rates last year added to housing’s underlying affordability problem, putting an end to the era of rampant bidding wars. The big question the report doesn’t answer is whether a recent drop in mortgage rates will fuel a rebound in sales. Redfin’s data, which covers many large metropolitan areas, represents closed sales. Buyers likely signed contracts in November for most December sales.

China’s central bank injected a record $83 billion into the country’s financial system on Wednesday, seeking to avoid a cash crunch that would put further pressure on the weakening economy. China’s policymakers are pledging to step up stimulus measures this year and do more to protect jobs as economic growth cools to 28-year lows. But a raft of measures last year from big rail projects to tax cuts seem to have had little impact so far, with recent data suggesting activity is cooling more quickly than expected. “The news is clear - the economy needs help,” said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis in Hong Kong. Wednesday’s open-market operation, the bank’s largest net single-day injection on record, came a day after China’s state planner, central bank and finance ministry all offered reassurances to investors, signaling more spending and other types of policy support. But shockingly weak December trade data released earlier this week, along with shrinking factory activity, are stirring speculation over whether more rapid and aggressive policy measures are needed to turn the world’s second-largest economy around.