Azerbaijan: increased salary not to entail price hike

The Azerbaijani government will take all necessary measures to prevent intended increase in prices after increase of the minimum wage, Abulfat Maharramov, director of the labor policy department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of Azerbaijan, declared. Maharramov said the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs would be given relevant instructions to prevent…

Lithuania: Vilnius adopts 2019 budget

The City Council of Vilnius has adopted the Lithuanian capital’s budget for 2019, with expenditure exceeding revenue by 5 million euros. The city’s revenue is expected to grow by 3.5% this year compared with 2018, to 611.717 million euros. Total revenue, including EU support and funds carried over from last year, is projected at 679.4…

Turkmenistan: GDP up in January 2019

As of late January, the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Turkmenistan was 6.2%, the Turkmen government said in a statement. In general, the volume of production and the retail trade turnover grew by 4.9% and 19% YoY, respectively. The plan for the production of various types of food products has been fulfilled…

Ukraine: foreign exchange reserves at $21 billion

The international foreign exchange reserves of Ukraine amount to more than $21 billion, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said at the All-Ukrainian Public Forum “Open Dialogue” in Kyiv. “In 2014-2015, the level of foreign exchange reserves amounted to $5 billion, and payments amounted to $7 billion. The threat of Ukraine’s bankruptcy seemed inevitable. Today, the…

Estonia: consumer price index up in January 2019

According to Statistics Estonia, the consumer change index changed by -0.2% compared to December 2018, and increased by 2.7% YoY in January. Goods were 1.5% and services 4.9% more expensive compared to January 2018. Regulated prices of goods and services increased by 4%, and non-regulated prices by 2.3%. The consumer price index was affected the…

Ukraine: wage arrears up in 2018

As of January 1, wage arrears in Ukraine amounted to UAH 2,645.1 million, up by 11.7% YoY, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine has reported. Among the leaders in terms of wage arrears were Luhansk region (UAH 505.9 million), Donetsk region (UAH 467.3 million) and Sumy region (UAH 275.3 million). The lowest salary debts as…