Business
14 January 2019 - Secretary General of the Association of Banks of Montenegro, Bratislav Pejaković, said that the potential danger from money laundering “does exist”, but that the banking system was capable of defending any such attempt.
“We must be aware of the fact that our market is so small and, therefore, it is not interesting for some major transactions that are very visible in a small world. That we can read about some big banks from the developed countries is something we are not familiar with. However, there is a slight danger, but I think we are capable of defending ourselves,” Pejaković said.
Considering the indicators, such as deposits, liquidity, solvency, from the systemic point of view we can say that measures imposed by the Central Bank on Atlas and IBM did not affect work of individual banks in Montenegro, nor did it worsen the systemic indicators.
“We support every attempt to find optimal solutions for the recovery of the Atlas Bank and IBM bank as soon as possible,” says Pejaković.
He reminds that deposits by a client of up to 50.000 EUR are protected.
“There are several levels of reaction and establishment of sustainability of regular operation and stability of financial position of a credit institution. Bank reserve is described in the balance sheets of the bank. Apart from the quality placement of credit assets, a bank also disposes of property, and minimum reserves at the Central Bank used for maintaining the liquidity of an individual bank. What is defined as a loss and what affects the capital and solvency, does not necessarily mean that it will not be solved partially or totally, sometime in the future? What seems problematic today, does not have to be a loss,” concluded Pejaković.
Source: Cafe del Montenegro
14 January 2019 - A consortium of the Czech Philibert and Petrovac-based Vila Oliva submitted a sole bid in the public tender for the sale of 56.4806% of the share capital of the Institute for Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Rheumatology Dr Simo Milošević AD Igalo.
In line with the 2018 Privatisation Plan, the Tender Commission for Privatisation started activities on drafting and implementing the tender for the sale of the share capital of the Institute. During 2018, several letters were delivered about the intentions of potential investors for the privatisation of the Institute, three bidders were registered in the public tender (purchased the tender documentation and signed the Confidentiality Statement), but only the bid by the consortium of the Czech Philibert, which is part of the Cimex Group, and Villa Oliva was submitted within the set deadline.
The public tender for the sale of 56.4806% of the share capital of the Institute Dr Simo Milošević was announced on 16 October 2018, with the deadline for submission of bids until 14 January 2019 at 12:00.
The public invitation and the tender documentation define the qualifying conditions and the minimum conditions the bidder has to fulfill to enable the offer to be taken into consideration. The fulfillment of the Qualification Conditions will be evaluated after receiving and opening the package with the bid.
The Tender Commission will not consider bids that do not meet the minimum requirements. The submitted bid will be opened at a session of the Commission to be held this week.
After the opening of the bid, the Commission will examine whether it meets the qualification requirements, after which, within 15 days from the day of its opening, it will be evaluated regarding its quality in line with the criteria defined by the Instructions to Bidders.
After the conducted tender, the Tender Commission will submit the report on the results of the tender to the Privatisation and Capital Projects Council for adoption.
13 January 2019 - The growth of the economy in the current year is going to be much higher than the projected 2,8%. It will not be as high as it was last year, but it will significantly exceed the official forecasts, around 4%. Judging by all indicators, I am definitely sure that positive trends will continue, said Božo Mihailović, a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montenegro.
“This growth should be based on investments in agriculture, the energy sector, tourism, and the total real sector. This year as well, Montenegro will be an attractive investment destination. I welcome high capital budget for the current year since it will be a driving force. Our economy records high foreign trade activity, 12,2% is very high growth, considering all the problems we are faced with,” says Mihailović.
A significant problem of our economy is public debt as Mihailović stressed.
“By 31st September of 2018, it amounted to 3,093 billion EUR, or 67% of GDP. Internal debt amounts 460 million EUR. The old economic rule says that debt does not necessarily mean huge problem, but the key question is what the cause of indebtedness is,” pointed out Mihailović.
Mihailović also commented on the strategy of economic development saying that it listed key segments that should be in the focus- agriculture, energy sector, tourism, industry to a certain extent.
“I point out the small and medium-sized industry. Particularly, renewable energy resources, solar energy, wind energy. We have to focus on increasing the real economy because it is the only stable economy. Different political and other factors influence it the least," concluded Mihailović
14 January 2019 - The University of Montenegro is highly ranked on the list of the world's top universities in the category of the highest number of citations based on the Google Scholar profile, published by Webometrics.
The "Webometrics Ranking of World Universities", a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain, has recently published the "Transparent Ranking: Top Universities by Citations in the Top Google Scholar Profiles" List.
Google Scholar Citations, which the Ranking is based on, offers authors an easy way to track the citations of their articles. An individual can check who is citing their publications, chart citations over time, and calculate various citation metrics. A useful feature is also the option to publish a profile to appear in Google Scholar results when someone searches for a specific name.
The list contains 6,117 universities, and the University of Montenegro ranked 1633, making the University better positioned than most state universities in the region.
Namely, the University of Montenegro was not present on last year’s Ranking, which was a consequence of the non-recognition of the then domain of the University "ac.me". Having learned about the problem that prevented the University from appearing within the List, the University administration took all necessary measures, including changing the domain to “ucg.ac.me”, which resulted in this year's ranking.
According to the Rectorate, the significant positioning of University on the list of world universities is a result of the dedicated work of its professors and associates and the quality of their scientific research.
The original goal of the Webometrics Ranking was to promote Web publishing. Supporting Open Access initiatives, electronic access to scientific publications and other academic material are the primary targets of this research group. Webometrics also intends to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web presence that accurately reflects their activities.
January 14, 2019 - Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism announced a tender for the selection of bidders for creating a Nautical Tourism Development Strategy. The aim is to analyse the potential of Montenegro and to assess whether the marine capacity of the state meets the standards expected by the target market.
Further growth of exports requires more intense activities of producers oriented towards marketing, as well as the association of domestic companies due to limited quantities, product range and financial resources, announced the Chamber of Commerce (PKCG).
"The creation of clusters and/or other forms of association eliminates the problem of fragmentation of production and insufficient production capacities and contributes to the strengthening of competitiveness," PKCG representatives told Mina-business agency.
They believe that to substitute imports with domestic production and export growth; it is necessary to work on strengthening the quality of the domestic supply, better position domestic products and link agriculture and tourism.
This, as PKCG stated, should work through the projects “Goods from Montenegro” (“Dobro iz Crne Gore”), “Let’s buy domestic products” (“Kupujmo domaće”), “Domestic flavors” (“Domaći ukusi”).
PKCG announced that a large number of products, especially agricultural foods, are unnecessarily imported, as there are capacities - domestic production, which could satisfy the bulk of domestic demand.
"We are known to produce high-quality beverages, meat and meat products, dairy products, honey, olives. Untapped possibilities are the richness of various medicinal and self-cultivated plants, then in forest areas of mushrooms, honey plants, forest fruits, as well as huge unused potential in the field of organic production, freshwater and marine fisheries," said PKCG.
High and persistent commodity deficits, as they have estimated, require further structural reforms, accompanied by a significant increase in productivity. PKCG reminded that the total foreign exchange trade of Montenegro from January to the end of November last year, according to the preliminary data of Monstat, amounted to 2.7 billion euros, which is 12.2 percent more than in the same period of 2017. Import coverage by export was 15.6 percent. "Imports of goods for the first 11 months of last year amounted to 2.34 billion euros. From Serbia, as the main partner, the most imported were beverages, alcohols and vinegar, plastics and plastic products, "they added from PKCG.
The export was realized for 363.9 million euros, and in Serbia, the most exported were pharmaceutical products and mineral fuels and mineral oils.
"The commodity deficit is mainly a consequence of the realization of the started investment projects, as well as the import of products that we cannot produce and must be imported," it was concluded by PKCG.
Text by MINA Business, on January 13th 2019, read more at Vijesti
12 January 2019 - Over the Christmas and New Year period, the people of Montenegro were doing their festive shopping in supermarkets, including giants, such as Voli Trade, making crowds as the most significant contributor to the ‘festive burnout’ – and thus contributed to a profit of dozens of millions EUR, according to Pobjeda daily.
Voli Trade company said they have been satisfied with generated profit over the holidays and emphasized it is the result of the company’s heavy work.
“This year our company earned 11 million EUR in revenues over the Christmas and New Year period,” the representatives of “Voli” said.
They also stressed generated revenues are 10% higher compared to the last year’s situation.
Voli Trade recently also bought two parcels of the former factory "Radoje Dakić" for 5.65 million EUR, where they plan to build the most modern hypermarket in this part of Europe, according to “Dnevne novine.” Voli said that the bankruptcy administration of the factory confirmed the purchase of 19,960 square meters.
At the opening of bids at the Commercial Court at the end of December last year, Mladen Markovic, the bankruptcy administrator of "Radoje Dakic", said that Voli trade was the only interested bidder in the fourth tender, at which the remaining assets of the company were sold at an initial price of almost 45 million euros. The property was first offered for 66.5 million euros, the second time for 60 million and the third for 49 million euros.
Source: Cafe del Montenegro
11 January 2019 - The development programme that provides the possibility for persons to acquire Montenegrin citizenship by investments in the following three years is launched, based on a maximum of 2,000 applications.
The Decision on criteria, method, and procedure for selection of persons who may acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission for the implementation of a special investment programme of particular importance for the business and economic interest of Montenegro began to be applicable on January 1, 2019.
The decision of the Government was adopted with the aim of developing Montenegro, i.e. with the goal of attracting foreign investments that will intensify development projects in the sector of tourism, agriculture and processing industry in the entire area of Montenegro, both in the north and in the south, as well as faster development of under-developed municipalities of Montenegro.
The model of the particular programme is GRANT + INVESTMENT.
A grant shall refer to the amount intended for development of under-developed local self-government units. The amount of the grant shall be 100,000 EUR per application of an applicant, which is a total of 200 million EUR for 2,000 applications, that being an amount that will be intended for development of under-developed local self-government units.
On the other hand, the investment shall refer to the amount intended for investment in one of the development projects from the Development Projects List that shall be defined by the Government at the proposal of the line ministries, while the amount that a legal entity shall be obliged to pay is as follows:
- at least 450,000 EUR, to invest in one of the development projects in the Capital City of Podgorica or the coastal zone of Montenegro; or
- at least 250,000 EUR, to invest in one of the development projects in the northern or central region of Montenegro, not including the Capital City of Podgorica.
11 January 2019 - The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism has been satisfied with the last year’s season and generated 1 billion EUR of revenues. According to minister Pavle Radulović, opinions on technical documentation for 16 new hotels in 5 coastal towns have already been issued.
“According to our estimates, 320 million EUR will be invested in tourism facilities this year. We have been delighted with the impressive records we achieved last year in this area of industry, especially regarding revenues and number of tourists, counting 2.1 million, which was by 100,000 more compared to 2017,” said Radulović.
For the first time in the history of Montenegrin tourism, hotels hosted a million tourists, i.e., there were 4 million overnight stays in the first ten months of 2017.
Radulović pointed out that Montenegrin strategic goal is for the country to become a high-end tourist destination throughout the whole year. He believes the process of legalization of illegally constructed facilities has started well.
So far, 51,000 citizens have applied for the legalization.
The growth of tourism revenues in Montenegro in 2018 was established at 8.3% n the first nine months, thus reaching the level of tourism income realised during the whole year of 2017. These revenues in 2018 were projected to exceed 1 billion EUR.
As of the beginning of 2019, the value of tourism projects in Montenegro in the past year was estimated at 214 million EUR.
During this occasion, Radulović was asked about tourism in Northern Montenegro, on which he answered that this part of Montenegro is still in development and that with new and renewed ski-centers, Northern Montenegro can improve significantly as a tourist destination.
“When it comes to Kolašin, I am sure that, with the development of ski centers and other amenities, it can attract a much higher number of tourists. Also, I think that Kolašin and Žabljak should not be competitive with one another, but with other regional centers. It is important to point out that infrastructure in the mountains is used during summer too. We are continuously investing in winter centers because that way we will provide promotion of different segments of tourism offer, extend the season in the northern part of our state and improve accommodation capacities. All this will be followed by connection with other relevant economic areas, and that will create new jobs,” concluded Radulović.
10 January 2019 - The Montenegrin economy should achieve a slightly lower rate this year, due to its strong base, following the high of last year's growth, announced the Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro, Nikola Fabris.
"We forecast that the growth rate of gross domestic product in this year amounts to about 3.5 percent," Fabris said in an interview with the Mina Business Agency.
According to him, sectors that the Central Bank of Montenegro expects to be economic growth holders this year are tourism, energy, and construction, mostly by the continuation of construction of the highway, tourist and energy facilities.
‘’Also, it is realistic to expect a gradual recovery processing industry and an absolute growth of agricultural production in the function of imports substitutions," Fabris concluded.
The Ministry of Finance recently developed an Autumn analysis of macroeconomic trends and structural reforms in cooperation with other relevant institutions. The autumn analysis included economic trends and growth in the first nine months of 2018.
The World Bank and the IMF revised their projections for the countries of the Western Balkans, so the forecast for the western Balkan countries was 3.5%, while for Montenegro, the World Bank revised the projection for 2018 to 3.8% or the whole 1 pp. more than the original estimates.
The projection is that by the end of the year, the public finance deficit will amount to 135.5 million EUR (2.9% of GDP). The budget deficit will be 173.1 million EUR (3.8% of GDP), while the local government will have a surplus of 37 million EUR (0.8% of GDP).
However, the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro recently stated that the grey economy and unfair competition are great business barriers.
“To overcome those barriers, we need to provide greater flexibility of labor market and enable the employer more space to cancel the contract of employment in case the employee fails to justify the reasons for his employment, reduce labor costs, primarily contributions thereof. That will provide higher employment, reduce the grey economy and create new jobs. It will also increase the minimum wage and consequently, reduce the unfair competition and increase the budget revenues,” pointed out Golubović.
January 11, 2019 - Among many Turkish investors operating in Montenegro, there is the owner of a Turkish national food restaurant in Podgorica. Baris Bidav told TVCG that he came to Montenegro, first of all, because of the favorable business environment, which enabled him to open the company in a brief time, such as lower taxes and, according to him, more comfortable living conditions.
Two years ago, Bidav came to Montenegro for a holiday.
"I realized that this is a country where I can stay. Then I came here for three months. I did nothing. I was just looking and exploring the market," Bidav said.
A few months ago, this research yielded fruit. Baris opened the Turkish national restaurant in Podgorica.
"I decided to open a restaurant here because I saw it was missing. I came with my cook, and we started making Turkish dishes," he says.
But Barish is not the only Turk who came to Montenegro for business. Since 2017, the number of companies whose founders are Turkish citizens is multiplying.
"In 2015, we had only 29 companies registered by Turkish citizens. During 2016 - 71 companies, while in 2017 there were 435 registered subjects. When it comes to 2018, this figure is drastically higher, and it is about 1,545 entities founded by the Turkish citizens," said Milica Vuletić from the Tax Administration.
When everything is gathered, the Turkish citizens in Montenegro have a stake in 2.097 companies. Most of them are opened in Budva, just over a thousand, then in Podgorica and Tivat. For now, the tax is paid on a regular basis. "In 2017, they made two million and 600 thousand, and in 2018 that figure doubled. So, we have a charge of five million and 300 thousand euros," said Vuletic. It is precisely the payment of these taxes that led Barisha to Montenegro. He says that in Turkey, where he still has a production house, he pays as much as 48 taxes.
"Why did I come from Turkey? Because three conditions are very useful for foreigners - one of the reasons is to open the company in a very short time and get a work permit. The second reason is the amount of tax, which is low compared to our standards and we saw the possibility of an easier business in Montenegro. The third reason is a small country and easier living conditions," says Barish.
While living in Istanbul, Barish spent almost four hours traveling go to work and returning home. That's why he's surprised why Montenegrins complain about traffic jams.
"Turkey has a lot of people. Montenegro has very few inhabitants, and that is why life is slower, while in Turkey it runs faster," he says.
He also points out that the business we finish in five business days is done in Turkey in one day.
"Montenegrins are not very fast. You're a bit slower, but it comes from a geographic position, and if you do not work quickly it will not have a greater impact on your business," he said.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Montenegro, at present, 4,187 Turks reside in the country. There are still more Chinese and Russians, and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
Text by RTCG, on January 10th, 2019, read more at CdM
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