Business: New wind farm in Croatia
18/12/2009
Croatia gets a new wind farm. Also in business news: air passengers enjoy restored service between Belgrade and Budapest, and Albania's electricity regulator approves a price hike.
 A wind farm opens in Orlice, Croatia. [Getty Images] |
Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor opened the Orlice wind farm near the city of Osijek. The 11 wind turbines have a capacity of 9.6MW. The project is worth 13m euros.
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Hungarian national air carrier Malev resumed service between Belgrade and Budapest after a 17-year hiatus. The first flight landed at Belgrade's airport on Monday (December 14th). Flights between the two capitals were suspended in 1992 following UN sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia.
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Albania's Energy Regulatory Agency approved on Monday (December 14th) a 13% increase in the price of electricity for household consumers. Local power distribution operator, CEZ, initially asked for a 24% increase. The new prices will become effective next month.
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Kosovo Energy Corporation began the preparatory phase of the new South-West Sibovci mine on Monday (December 14th) as part of a 34.74m-euro project. The mine, considered the biggest project in Kosovo's energy sector in the last two decades, will start producing lignite in April. The European Agency for Reconstruction provided 15m euros in financial assistance to the project.
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The Romanian government replaced about 32,000 vehicles or two-thirds of old cars under its 2009 "cash for clunkers" programme, which aims to reduce harmful emissions. The goal is gradually to eliminate cars more than ten years old, in line with EU regulations. The government spent around 29.2m euros in bonuses for new cars within the programme.
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Eurostat published on Wednesday (December 16th) GDP data of 27 EU members, candidate countries and four Western Balkan states. According to the data, in 2008 GDP levels in Romania and Bulgaria, the two newest bloc members, were respectively 47% and 60% lower than the EU average, which is estimated as 100% in the study.
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The World Bank announced its approval of 21m euros for Macedonia in support of economic reforms and development policies Tuesday (December 15th). The funds will be used especially for social security and health care reforms and measures to boost stability in the financial sector.
(Various sources – 11/12/09-18/12/09)
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