SETimes.comRegional cities make liveability list
22/08/2012
Athens, Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade and Istanbul made the Global Liveability Survey. Also in business news: Greece enters austerity talks and Romania's BRD Bank is the 10th safest banks in Central and Eastern Europe.
Five cities from the Balkans were ranked in this year's Global Liveability Survey, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit on Wednesday (August 15th). Athens is at 67th, followed by Bucharest at 84th, Sofia at 87th, Belgrade at 99th and Istanbul at 109th. The list, which includes 140 cities worldwide, ranks them based on their political stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
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Unemployment in Turkey is at an 11-year low, data from the country's Statistics Institute showed on Wednesday (August 15th). Unemployment in May stood at 8.2 percent, down from 9.4 percent a year ago and 9 percent in April.
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Bulgaria launched construction on a gas interconnector with Romania on Thursday (August 16th). The 25km-long facility aims to diversify and secure natural gas supplies by linking the Romanian city of Giurgiu to the Danube port city of Ruse in Bulgaria. It is expected to supply up to 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually from mid-2013 on.
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Five companies have qualified to bid for the privatisation of a 75 percent stake in Kosovo's state-controlled phone company PTK, the ministry of economic development announced on Saturday (August 18th). Among the bidders is a unit of Turkey's Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS and Albright Capital Management LLC.
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Greece and Albania are the most popular tourism destinations for Macedonians, data from the State Statistical Institute in Skopje showed on Monday (August 20th). Albania is a destination of choice due to its geographic proximity and low prices. Macedonian tourists spend there an average of one week, while holidays in Greece last at least 10 days, the poll revealed.
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Greece entered a crucial week Monday (August 20th), when finance officials from the country held fresh talks on finalising spending cuts of 11.5 billion euros, necessary to continue receiving international bailout funds. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said the measures for 2013 and 2014 will be ready by the middle of the week, when inspectors of the troika are arriving in Athens to check progress in implementing Greece's austerity programme.
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Romania's BRD Bank is the 10th safest bank in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a ranking published by the Global Finance magazine on Thursday (August 16th). The winners were selected through an evaluation of long-term credit ratings from Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide.
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Serbia is facing a heavy energy crisis, Energy, Development and Environment Minister Zorana Mihajlovic warned on Friday (August 17th). The minister said no electricity restrictions will be applied, but the country will probably have to increase imports. She pointed out recent droughts are an objective reason for the crisis but there are also subjective factors such as poor electricity consumption planning.
(Various sources -- 15/08/12-22/08/12)