Estonia: EC recommends expanding unemployment benefits and renewing fleet

The European Commission’s recommendations for Estonia include expanding unemployment insurance benefits to cover non-standard forms of work and updating vehicles. The European Commission on May 23 published its country-specific recommendations for the next six months. The Commission urges Estonia to expedite renewable energy projects, secure cross-border energy links and render the transport sector more environmentally…

Lithuania: president signs budget bill

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has signed the revised 2022 state budget bill into law but criticised the government for being too slow in countering inflation. “People pay taxes to contribute to a bigger budget and better public services in good times and to receive timely state support in difficult times,” he said in a statement…

Poland: retail sales up in April 2022

Poland’s retail sales increased in real terms by 19% YoY, but fell by 0.1% MoM in April, the Central Statistical Office said on May 23. Economists polled by PAP expected April’s retail sales to grow in real terms by 17.8% YoY and drop by 0.5% MoM. In current prices, retail sales increased by 33.4% YoY…

Poland: manufacturing up in April 2022

Poland’s industrial output rose by 13% YoY in April, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported. Month on month, industrial output fell by 11.3%. Economists polled by PAP expected April’s manufacturing to grow by 15.5% YoY and to decrease by 11.1% MoM. Seasonally adjusted industrial production went up by 15.6% YoY, but declined by 0.4% MoM…

Georgia: domestic exports up in January-April 2022

Georgia has exported locally produced goods worth $1.58 billion in January-April, up by 32.8% YoY, preliminary data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia showed. Geostat said local exports in the country had accounted for 76.1% of total exports in the reporting period, amounting to $1.27 billion, up by 37.1%. Georgia’s top trading partners were…