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By Tarik Kurbegović, chief executive, Sarajevo Stock Exchange
On the walls of the conference hall of the Sarajevo Stock Exchange hang copies of shares from the era when Bosnia was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. While this suggests a long tradition of capital markets culture, it does not, alas, reflect the true state of awareness among Bosnian citizens. We have started to work on improving the country’s financial literacy. But it will take time. Continue reading »
It’s not often that Bosnia appears in international headlines these days – and most Bosnians would be grateful for that. When it does attract the attention of outsiders, it’s often for a bad reason – as it was when international media reported the closure of the country’s 124-year-old National Museum this month.
The closure is yet another reminder of the instability engendered by Bosnia’s divided administration and the crisis faced by its economy. Continue reading »
A substantial new Chinese loan deal for a Bosnian power plant indicates the progress that the country is making in realising its potential as an energy exporter. In a region in which several countries have a power deficit, Bosnia is leveraging its competitive advantages and drawing international investment to the electricity sector.
Energy Financing Team, a UK-based company active in Balkan energy markets, has secured a €350m deal with the state-owned China Development Bank (CBD) to construct a 300MW coal-fired plant in Stanari, northern Bosnia. Continue reading »
By Milan Bozic of the Banja Luka Stock Exchange
A team from the International Monetary Fund has been in Sarajevo for the past fortnight negotiating a new stand-by arrangement for Bosnia & Herzegovina. Kostas Hristou, head of the IMF’s Bosnia office, says he hopes for an agreement by October.
We can only hope things go better than when B&H signed up for its first SBA, worth €1.2bn, just three years ago. Continue reading »
Tobacco: lighting up in the Balkans
The eurozone crisis might have left south-eastern Europe in an economic doldrums since 2009 but that has not stopped one company from seeking its fortunes in the region.
Tobacco AD, a fast-growing Macedonian convenience store chain, is betting that even in these times of financial austerity, people will continue to drink, smoke and pay their utility bills.
The Skopje-based company, with 55 stores open already in the former Yugoslav republic, is planning to raise €2m via an initial public offering to fund its expansion around the western Balkans. Continue reading »
Western Balkans: pain but no gain
With the eurozone in crisis, the small states of the Western Balkans are bracing themselves for another round of pain without gain. For the immediate future, their economic destiny of will be almost totally out of their own hands.
So warns the World Bank in a report released on Tuesday. Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – dubbed “SEE6” in Bank terminology – can expect to be bruised by every financial tremor in the eurozone and European Union. Continue reading »
“Try your Big Mac”, a giant billboard advises patrons in Sarajevo, as the hours tick down to one of the biggest events since the Dayton peace accords. Nearly sixteen years after the war ended, the Bosnian capital has attained the ultimate sign of modernity: a McDonald’s on the main central thoroughfare, Marshal Tito Street. Continue reading »
Dongfang wins Bosnia power contract
China’s power-generation behemoth, Dongfang Electric Corp, has plugged into the underbelly of the European energy grid with a deal to build a new thermal plant drawing on Bosnia’s rich coal veins.
Dongfang’s Balkan partner, the Serb-run, UK-headquartered Energy Financing Team (EFT), has turned to the China Development Bank about underwriting 85 per cent of the three-year project costing just over €500m. Continue reading »
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