Baltic States
M&A hits €8.5bn in CEE in Q1, says Mergermarket
Trend towards bigger deals and more fund investment continues, as deal value rises by half to give best Q1 since 2013.
wiiw raises 2021 CEE growth forecast to 3.8%
But pandemic has delayed restart of convergence with Western Europe until 2023.
CEE reels as third wave of COVID-19 breaks
A third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping through Emerging Europe. While Russia is expecting to reach herd immunity in the next two months, most other countries of the region have only just started their mass immunisation programmes.
IKEA’s New Europe Empire
Getting an IKEA store is a good guide to how developed a country is. And the Swedish furniture store has an uncanny knack for opening their yellow and blue stores exactly at the beginning of a country's rapid growth phase.
Mid Europa builds cross-Baltic e-shopping platform
Buyout group that owns Poland's Allegro agrees to acquire Pigu and merge it with Hobby Hall.
MITTELEUROPEAN INSIGHTS: Central and Southeastern Europe head for a V-shaped recovery
The moderate GDP setbacks in 2020 imply that for some CEE countries there will not be such drastic recovery and rebound effects in 2021 as in hard-hit countries in Western Europe.
Rising inflation in Emerging Europe poses dilemma for central banks
With economies primed to rebound as pandemic restrictions are loosened, consumer prices could rise even further, reawakening an issue that has long been ignored.
Ukraine still importing power from Belarus, despite promise to break ties
As the heating season is close to ending Ukraine is still importing large amounts of power from Belarus, despite a promise to break its connection to the Belarusian and Soviet era grid.
The female voice of change
Emerging Europe has a growing number of female politicians taking a stand against corruption and authoritarianism.
Did sanctions evading Iran put together fake Armenian airline to buy planes?
Islamic Republic’s Caspian Airlines purchases Boeing 737 said to have arrived in Tehran in an emergency landing. Observers smell a rat.
Latvian oligarch Aivars Lembergs jailed for five years for financial crimes
Corrupt political kingpin finally goes to jail for bribery and money laundering after court battle lasting 12 years.
Emerging Europe strong on women’s economic opportunities but dragged down by low pensions
Different retirement ages for men and women lead to lower pensions for women despite reforms in 2019-2020, says World Bank report.
BALTIC BLOG: Estonia's Centre party looks set to maintain kingmaker role
Populist liberal leader Juri Ratas will try to plot a comeback from behind the scenes, analysts believe.
Abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people rises across Europe and Central Asia
Crackdown on democracy and civil society during pandemic accompanied by increase in hate speech by politicians finds ILGA-Europe report.
Ukraine and Lithuania imported record amounts of power from Belarus, but move to break ties with its power grid
Ukraine imported a record amount of electricity from Belarus in 2020, as other neighbouring EU countries cut their ties with the Belarusian power grid.
Lithuanians worry about fallout from Belarus sanctions
The Baltic state's tough stance on sanctions against President Lukashenko could rebound on Klapeida port, which generates 6% of the country's GDP.
Estonia's two big parties agree on grand coalition
New government will be equally balanced between Reform and Centre, and by gender, and has many new faces.
VISEGRAD BLOG: Central Europe's populists need a new strategy for Biden
The incoming US president will be tougher on the erosion of democracy but also tougher on Russia.
LONG READ: The oligarch problem
Andrew Meier had a good joke about the problems post-Soviet countries face with their oligarchs: "What is to be done with those who are to blame."
