In Brief
Serb central bank steers dinar away from new low BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s central bank sold 50 million euros on the currency market yesterday to stem a slide by the dinar to a record low of 97.70 per euros, dealers said yesterday, citing a central bank record of the transaction. Traders said the bank had sold euros at 97.40 dinars per euro, steering the dinar away from the next key level of 98 a day after its monetary board kept interest rates on hold due to recent currency weakness. Some London-based analysts have speculated the Balkans could see some fallout from Greece’s debt crisis, through Greek banks repatriating funds from their operations in the region. Dealers in Belgrade said there was no sign of such transactions in recent days. The intervention, which the central bank said was aimed at «preventing sharp daily swings,» was the fourth this month. Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot may launch joint airline ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Airlines, Europe’s fourth-biggest carrier by passengers, and Russia’s Aeroflot have discussed launching a joint airline, a Turkish Transport Ministry official said yesterday. Russian and Turkish government officials discussed closer cooperation in transportation, including establishing a joint airline, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Moscow this month, the official said on condition of anonymity. The size of the stakes each state-run carrier would hold has not been decided, nor which aircraft would be used, he said. Haber Turk newspaper reported that both airlines would own a 50 percent stake in the passenger airline that will use Russian-made Sukhoi jets that carry between 80 and 95 people. Russia and Turkey will ease visa restrictions on travelers to encourage tourism, the daily said. Energy rush Bulgaria will introduce tighter rules for building new wind and solar power farms to tame a boom that has threatened to overload the Balkan country’s energy grid, the Environment Ministry said yesterday. Generous government incentives for electricity produced from renewable energy generators has led to an avalanche-like increase in projects, totaling over 12,000 megawatts – well above the European Union country’s grid capacity. The power network’s operator warned last November that the the green energy rush could end up in so much new supply it could cause blackouts on the national grid. The new center-right government, elected in July, had initially considered a temporary moratorium on renewable projects but instead opted for stricter regulations to bar speculators, the Environment Ministry said. (Reuters) NKBM takeover Slovenia’s second-largest bank Nova KBM (NKBM) plans to take over Serbian state-owned bank Credy banka, NKBM said in a statement yesterday. «In line with NKBM’s strategic goal to expand in Southeast Europe… the supervisory board ordered the management to… undertake all procedures necessary to take over the majority share in Credy banka,» NKBM said but gave no other details. At present, NKBM owns only one bank outside Slovenia, Adria Bank AG in Austria. (Reuters)