Money

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Vice Governor Zeljko Jovic said on Wednesday Serbia had registered a FDI inflow of 1.259 bln euros in the first four months of this year, or 66 pct more y-o-y.

Hedepy, a Czech company providing rapid access to online psychotherapy, was chosen the best startup at an international business conference in Maribor on 17 May in a competition of 135 startups from 18 countries.

The funds invested last year in the housing market nationwide are estimated at over 8 billion euros, highlighting the upward trend in demand but also in prices.

This amount is high considering both the fact that banks no longer finance 100% of the value of properties to be purchased, and the fact that only 20% of purchases and sales are made through bank lending.

The housing market has recently evolved into one of the most profitable investments, with a return of up to 126% during the last five years (2017-2022).

Those brave enough to acquire an apartment in Attica during 2017 - i.e. when the real estate market began its recovery - are today the big winners, as they have seen the value of their investment more than double.

The interest rate spread in Greece between new deposits and loans increased to 5.50 percentage points in March as the weighted average interest rate on new deposits remained almost unchanged at 0.23%, while the corresponding rate on new loans increased to 5.73%, the Bank of Greece said on Friday.

While Cyprus' economic growth is expected to remain strong, the economic and the fiscal outlooks are exposed to significant downside risks, DBRS Morningstar said in a commentary on the country's new Stability Program.

Investment tycoon Warren Buffett has said that messaging from the U.S. government over the regional banking crisis had been "poor," suggesting that is why confidence has not returned among consumers.    

Uncertainty continues to pummel the banking industry, despite assurances from financial regulators and bankers such as Jamie Dimon this week that the worst of the recent crisis is over and the health of the banking system remains strong.

Bank shares have sold off on Wall Street this week following the government seizure and subsequent sale of First Republic Bank to JPMorgan.

Orban reiterated his government's narrative that Hungary was in chaos before he took over in 2010. He paid a backhanded tribute to George Soros, saying that if the Hungarian-born US billionaire "had not launched his migration program, we would never have made it into the headlines".

Türkiye's Central Bank has kept its inflation projections for end-2023 and end-2024 unchanged at 22.3 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.