Albanians will be voting for the political elections on 18 June 2017. The date was set by the Head of State Bujar Nishani. Currently, Albania is governed by the centre-left majority of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who in June 2013 obtained a great victory, defeating the centre-right of the then Prime Minister Sali Berisha, at his second mandate. Immediately after that, Berisha decided to resign, leaving his place to his heir apparent Lulzim Basha.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

On 3 December in Montenegro the call for the purchase of medicines was blocked due to a submission of an irregularity report. It is to be recalled that on 7 November 2016 Montefarm, public authority that provides national pharmacies with medical and health products, published three calls for tenders for the purchase of these products, for a total value of slightly more than EUR 31 million, distributed as follows: EUR 1.64 million for 195 types of medical products, EUR 19.7 million for 331 types of ampoule products and EUR 10.66 million for 486 types of medicines for oral administration.  

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Moroccan company Platinum Power, whose main shareholder is the American Investment Fund Brookstone Partners, will launch a project for the construction of 3 private hydroelectric stations  in Morocco, in the Beni Mellal region, 200km north-east from Marrakech. It is an unprecedented project in the country, because so far all hydroelectric stations have been managed by the national authority ONEE. An amendment to the law on renewable energy, approved in 2015, allows private initiatives in the production of energy from renewable resources, in this case water. This regulation allowed the private project of Platinum Power to show its public utility. The project was published on the Moroccan Government gazette on 24 October. Platinum Power foresees a MAD 2.8 billion (over EUR 260 million) investment for the construction of three small hydroelectric stations: Boutferda (18 MW), Tillouguit Amont (8 MW) e Tillouguit Aval (30 MW), which will benefit from the water coming from the Atlas. The estimated annual production is 250 GWH. This project received an agreement for a waiver on its urban impact by the Regional Commission for Investments (CRI) of the Beni Mellal-Khenrifa Wilaya. It should create 480 jobs during the construction, and 80 additional jobs after the beginning of operations, date that is so far unknown. Platinum Power, specialized in the development, funding, construction and management of projects for energy production from renewables, operates also in Ivory Coast and Cameroon, and has a network that produces almost 2,500 MW in the hydroelectric, wind and solar energy secotors. Other Platinum Power shareholders are, in addition to Brookstone Partners, the German development bank KfW, the European Investment Bank, the French Agency for Development and Morocco (through the fund for the growth of SMEs). 

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Fadhel Abdelkefi, Minister of Development, Investments and International Cooperation, wrapped up the international conference on investments and economic and social development of Tunisia.

He explained that 4,500 people participated at the event, among which 1,500 were business partners coming from 70 countries and 40 delegations. Official commitments amount to 34 billion dinars (15 billion on agreements and 19 million in funding pledges).

The Minister underlined the agreements signed with France, which was represented by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, which foresees 3 billion dinars credit to be given over the next four years, as well as over 420 million dinars in funding agreements with preferential conditions, and a 25 million dinars donation, for which the discussions for the re-negotiation of the debt with France for investments in Tunisia was launched.  

He added that he had a meeting with the French Ambassador to Tunisia for the submission of projects to build hospitals and for regional education.

Saudia Arabia, on its side, signed a financing contract for 1.8 billion dinars through the Saudi Fund, with an additional financing mechanism at preferential rates (up to 25-30 years with an interest rate not above 2%, over and above a 7 year extra period granted).

For Germany, an agreement was signed with KFW in order to grant Tunisia a 260 million dinars loan, while the European Union gave a 500 million dinars donation.

The European Investment Bank signed with Tunisia a financing contract that amounts to 6.8 billion dinars on a time-span of 4 years, as well as a 600 million dinars loan with preferential conditions.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Business Monitor International (BMI) foresees a 2.2% growth of the real GDP of Lebanese economy for 2017, compared to the +1.7% forecasat for 2016. According to BMI, private consumption is the main engine of the Lebanese economy and will contribute with 2.9% of the growth rate for 2016, and with 3.4% for 2017.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The OECD foresees a 2% growth in Slovenia for this year, which is 0.5% higher than June estimates. For 2017, it indicates +2.4%, slightly more (+0.1%) of what announced earlier, while for 2018 the forecast is of +2.3%. in this period, unemployment is supposed to decrease: according to ILO criteria, this year it will drop to 7.8%, in 2017 to 7.1% and in 2018 to 6.9%. It is also foreseen a decrease of public deficit, supposed to reach 2.4% of the GDP this year, 1.6% of the GDP in 2017 and 0.9% of the GDP in 2018.

Together with the creation of new jobs, internal consumption should also grow. Thanks to European funding, investments are expected to growth, especially in the infrastructure sector.

Financial media underline the negative OECD estimates with regards to the public deficit (supposed to reach 85% of the GDP by the end of the year) and note that positive indexes are also due to the positive international conjuncture, therefore reforms are still necessary, first and foremost that of the pensions.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The consumers’ confidence index dropped to 68.9 in November, recording a -6.9& compared to the previous month. The index recorded a sharp increase after the parliamentary elections of November 2015, with a 23% increase on a one-year basis.

According to the Chief Economist of Finansbank, the worsening of financial indicators, particularly the constant weakening of the Turkish pound, are the main reasons for the drop in the confidence index.

The economist added that the index was resilient compared to other preliminary indicators in the last few months. Afterwards, it increased by 11% in August, remained stable in the following months, until the growth of loans and industrial production showed some signals of decline.

The unemployment expectations index dropped to 71.3 (-7.6% compared to the previous month).

Also the indicator that measures the expectations on the internal financial situation of the country decreased by 5.4% in October, reaching 89.01.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) decided to allocate EUR 14 million in the next 3 years to 700 Tunisian small and medium sized enterprises, in order for them to benefit from technical assistance in various sectors: consultancy, marketing strategy, human resources management, Iso quality system. This was announced by the EBRD national Director of the program of technical assistance to Tunisian SMEs, Anis El Fahem. He added that the Bank will shortly sign other conventions to fund public projects in the energy sector at the margins of the international conference for investments “Tunisia 2020”, to be held next 29-30 November in Tunisia.

Since 2012, 320 Tunisian enterprises benefited of technical assistance grants for a total value of EUR 4 million, in order to strengthen their competitiveness on the market.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The World Bank recently released the annual report “Doing Business 2017” on countries competitiveness, assigning to Morocco the 68th position at a world level. This rating measures the ease of doing business in 190 countries, based on a number of indicators concerning fiscal regulations applied to enterprises during their life cycle. Morocco gained 7 places (in the last report it was ranked as 75th) and affirmed itself as the first North-African country, the 3rd African country following Mauritius (49) and Rwanda (56).

According to the World Bank, the improved competitiveness in Morocco is due to the adoption of five important reforms that facilitated the procedure to create a new enterprise, the registration of landed property, the implementation of a system to evaluate the credit ranking of borrowers, the protection of minority shareholders and the streamlining of imports procedures. Within the MENA region, Morocco has the 4th place, after the United Arab Emirates (26), Bahrain (63) and Oman (66). This year, the Kingdom of Morocco placed itself in front of South Africa (74), Tunisia (77) Zambia (98), Ghana (108), Egypt (122), Algeria (156), Qatar (83), Saudi Arabia (94), Kuwait (102) and Jordan (118). Similar results on competitiveness of the country were also released, at the end of September, by the World Economic Forum, which placed Morocco in 70th place out of the 138 countries examined.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Urban planning committee of Haifa approved a new project of residential and commercial reorganization and extension of Haifa. The news is disseminated by the economic newspaper Globes. 

Objective of the project – to be completed by 2025 – is to host 330,000 residents, 55,000 more than the current figure, to build a new business centre downtown and one for the occupation of Haifa Bay, the construction and restoration of public buildings, schools and tourism, entertainment and residential buildings.

On this particular subject, projects have been already submitted to increase the residential offer, and are currently under examination on in the phase of approval: for instance, a project for 4500 new houses in the new south gate of Haifa, and one for 2000 houses in Gurel Hill.

With reference to green areas, the plan foresees the creation of a new park in an area that is now under concession to the Israel Ports Company.

Furthermore, the port area should be re-qualified in order to ensure an easay access to pedestrians and a connection with the German Colony, the neighbourhood close to one of the most visited attractions of Haifa, the Bahai Mausoleum.

Even the littoral should be reorganized because the current road setup, with an expressway, impedes to use its full potential.  

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews