Eastern Europe / Features
Russian growth is stymied by a crisis of confidence
Russia’s economy is doing fairly well but what is holding it back from faster growth is a crisis of confidence among businesses. Corruption and red tape are problems, but the predatory nature of the state-owned enterprises is a bigger one.
Russia’s flourishing toilet paper industry
Russia’s economic growth may well be in the toilet, but that's probably the best time to get into the toilet paper business.
Death in Vinnytsia
A political corruption scandal revealed by bne IntelliNews in 2017 has erupted into a potent threat to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
BALKAN BLOG: Romanian anti-corruption beacon extinguished
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor had long been considered an icon of the struggle against official corruption not only for Romanians but for other countries in the region that had hoped to follow the example set in Bucharest.
Kyiv has about a week to do a deal with the IMF or risk no donor money until the end of 2019
Ukraine has about a week left to placate its main international donor the IMF and persuade it to release another badly needed tranche of money or risk not being able to get anything from any of its donors until the end of 2019, say analysts