Economy of the Arab League

Cyprus and Egypt have signed an agreement for the construction of an underwater pipeline to export natural gas to Egypt, a statement said on Wednesday.

It said the deal was signed by Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Yiorgos Lakkotrypis and Egypt's Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q2 of 2018 is higher by 1.4 percent compared to Q1 and when compared to the similar period of 2017 it recorded an increase by 4.1 percent as gross series, and by 4.2 percent as seasonally adjusted series, according to a release of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) sent to AGERPRES on Friday.

SOFIA: Bulgaria expects to post a fiscal surplus of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product on a cash basis at the end of August, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.

It said the Balkan country's consolidated fiscal programme recorded a surplus of 2.0 billion levs, or 1.9 percent of GDP, in the first seven months of 2018, mainly due to improved tax collection.

The trade balance deficit went up 12.3 percent in the first five months of 2018 as against the similar period of 2017, to over 5 billion euro, a release of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday informs.

Syria is planning to import around 1.5 million tons of mostly Russian wheat this year, as local wheat procurement is expected at around half a million tons, the country's internal trade minister said on June 26.

Travel receipts recorded an increase of 7.4 percent in the first four months of this year compared to last, as revenues from Greece's main money-maker exceeded 1 billion euros in the January-April period, according to provisional Bank of Greece figures.

Greek exports enjoyed double-digit annual growth in the first four months of the year, while the trade deficit posted a decline. The Panhellenic Exporters Association is expressing optimism that the rising trend will continue for the export sector in the coming months despite the adversities from the trade conflict and US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

The World Bank has forecasted that the Turkish economy will grow to 4.5 percent in 2018 in its June 2018 Global Economic Prospects report. 

The World Bank has approved two separate loans for Turkey worth $1 billion in total to back a gas storage expansion project and various projects that promote labor market participation for women. 

Societe Generale Bank Srbija recorded in Q1 profit after tax of 2.1 billion dinars (17.7 million euros), + 50% higher in annual terms. This is a continuation of positive trend from 2017, when the bank ended business year with a profit after tax of six billion dinars (49.7 million euros) at the Bank level, i.e.