In 2024, the commercial real estate market in Belgrade showed steady growth, driven by a robust economy and rising consumer demand. Experts predict that the trend will continue in 2025, especially in the central areas and New Belgrade.
Average rental rates (€/month):
The largest international chains choose the center and New Belgrade, while local businesses prefer Zemun and the surrounding area.
Belgrade continues to strengthen its position as a promising site for commercial real estate investment.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/580
In his seven years as Bank of England governor, Carney was charming and self-confident but had a volcanic temper
Smart, smooth, tough and a liberal globalist to the ends of his fingertips. That was how Mark Carney came across in his near seven-year stint as governor of the Bank of England. Judging by how he ran the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, Donald Trump should not expect too much flattery from Canada’s new prime minister.
Quite the opposite, in fact. From the moment he took over as governor from Mervyn King in 2013, it was clear Carney considered himself to be the smartest man in the room and wanted to make sure everybody knew it. He was not a man to suffer fools gladly, so the scene is set for a mighty clash of egos when prime minister meets president.
Carney arrived in the UK with a reputation as the rock star central banker and was quite the contrast with his predecessor King. Where previous governors had avoided the limelight, Carney quickly became something of a celebrity. That was not really for what he did but for how he looked.
The fashion pages analysed the man bag he turned up with at his first big speech at the University of Nottingham. He was photographed at a music festival. He seemed cosmopolitan and glamorous: the George Clooney lookalike who could wax lyrical not just about quantitative easing but about which indie bands he was listening to.
When Carney was appointed by the then chancellor, George Osborne, it was pre-Brexit, pre-Trump, pre-Covid and pre-Ukraine war. A liberal globaliser, Barack Obama, was president of the US, and a liberal globaliser, David Cameron, was prime minister of the UK. Times have changed.
In 2025, liberal globalisers are far thinner on the ground and those that remain now talk the language of populists. The Carney I knew was a strong believer in open markets and free trade. By instinct, he was – and presumably still is – opposed to protectionism. There is no small irony in the fact that liberal globalisers are now being forced to confront the reality of the world they helped to create.
Osborne had to fight hard to secure Carney’s services. When he rejected the financial package on offer to him as governor, Osborne made it more generous. When Carney said he didn’t fancy a full eight-year stint, it was cut to five. But Osborne, who had vastly increased the powers of the Bank of England after the global financial crisis of 2008, was determined to get his man. In the newly beefed-up Bank, Carney was responsible both for monetary policy – which primarily involves setting interest rates – and financial stability. In the end, his term was extended and he only left the Bank in March 2020, just as the UK economy was facing its Covid lockdown.
Carney was intellectually self-confident and worked ferociously hard, but had a central banker’s caution when it came to public statements. His answers to questions often went on for several minutes, making them pretty much unquotable, as I found out the first time I interviewed him. Given a 30-minute slot, I realised after 25 minutes that he had said nothing that would remotely make a news story. The new governor’s views about the UK housing market eventually did the trick in the nick of time.
The verbal obfuscation was quite deliberate and Carney could deliver a crisp soundbite when he thought the moment warranted it. The classic example of that came on the morning of 24 June 2016 – the day after the UK’s Brexit referendum. Britain had voted to leave the EU, Cameron had announced he was stepping down as prime minister, and the pound was in freefall.
Carney thought Brexit a bad idea but knew that at that moment the markets needed reassurance. Standing behind a lectern at the Bank of England, he duly provided it. Showing he can keep a calm head in a crisis should stand him in good stead in his new job.
If he chose to be, Carney could be charming. Once he stepped down as governor he would find the time to chat at events such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. Sometimes this was about his new role, seeking private sector financial backing to combat global heating. But the last time we spoke, Carney was railing against the points deduction imposed on Everton by the Premier League. Canada’s new prime minister has family connections to Merseyside and is a diehard blue.
There was another side to Carney’s character. Journalists sometimes caught a glimpse of his volcanic temper and Bank staff were wary of getting on the wrong side of him. As a governor he was respected but not especially liked.
Larry Elliott was economics editor of the Guardian from 1996 to 2024
Ukrstal Dnipro Steel Structures Plant PJSC reduced its net profit by 9.7 times year-on-year in 2024 to UAH 7.342 million from UAH 70.924 million.
According to the company’s announcement in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the company’s shareholders’ meeting scheduled for April 7, 2025 proposes to allocate the net profit of UAH 7.342 million generated by the company’s financial and economic activities in 2024 to cover losses of previous periods.
According to the agenda, the shareholders will also, in particular, consider the reports of the Supervisory Board and the auditor for the past year, and approve the results of financial and economic activities.
Ukrstal Dnipro Steel Structures Plant is the legal successor of PJSC Babushkin Dnipro Steel Structures Plant (the name was changed in April 2017). The company’s core business is the production of building steel structures and their parts.
According to the third quarter of 2024, Closed Non-Diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund RIFT (Ukraine) owns 92.9947% of the shares of PJSC “Ukrstal Dnipro Metal Structures Plant”, Fercon Ltd (Ukraine) owns 6.3537%.
The authorized capital is UAH 355.208 million, with a share par value of UAH 0.25.
Polling stations have opened in Greenland, where elections to the local parliament are taking place on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Approximately 41 thousand residents of the island are eligible to vote.
The voters will have to choose from several parties, the favorites of which are two – the left-wing socialist Inuit Atakatigiiit (Eskimo Union), which is currently in power, and the social democratic Siumut (Forward).
In addition to them, representatives of the liberal Demokraatit (“Democrats”) party, the centrist Nalerak (“Aspiration”) party, which supports the island’s independence, and the liberal conservatives from the Atassut (“Solidarity”) party are competing for seats in the local parliament.
According to the BBC, a coalition of the Inuit Atakatigiit and Siumut parties currently controls the majority in parliament – 21 out of 31 seats. Both are in favor of independence, but the largest Inuit Atakatigiiit is in no hurry to hold a referendum, while Siumut promises to hold one in the next four years.
The announcement of the initial election results will begin immediately after the polls close, but the situation may be complicated by weather conditions, as a large part of the island is located in the Arctic zone. The time of the announcement of the final election results will also depend on this.
Observers note that the results of these elections should also reveal which way the island’s residents prefer: to remain a self-governing territory of Denmark, to choose a direction towards independence, or to listen to the statements of US President Donald Trump, who suggested that the Danish authorities buy Greenland.
The results of recent pre-election polls conducted by the Verian research company and regional media show that 85% of voters oppose becoming part of the United States, 6% are in favor, and 9% are undecided.
In addition, 60% of respondents are in favor of Greenland’s possible accession to the EU; 40% share the opposite opinion. The same results were shown in the 2021 survey. However, compared to 2021, the percentage of those who support parties that advocate independence from Denmark has now decreased from 80% to 69%.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank and Maksim Urakin released a video analysis on the most important elections in the world in 2025 – https://youtu.be/u1NMbFCCRx0?si=AOtHGDT1kGNdZd2g
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in Hungary, which has led to emergency measures in a number of countries. The authorities of the UK, Russia and Ukraine have already announced restrictions on imports of animals and animal products from Hungary to prevent the spread of the dangerous virus.
Today, Ukraine has imposed a ban on the import of animals susceptible to the foot-and-mouth disease virus, as well as raw materials and animal products from such animals. The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSUFSCP) explained that the measures were taken to avoid the introduction of the virus into the country. According to the agency, the source of infection can be not only infected animals, but also those in the incubation period. In addition, the virus is transmitted through products obtained from infected animals.
The competent authorities in each country continue to monitor the epizootic situation and are ready to introduce additional measures if necessary.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects farm animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It is characterized by the appearance of ulcers and blisters in the mouth, hooves and udders of animals, accompanied by fever and a sharp decline in productivity.
The disease is spread by airborne droplets, through feed, water, clothing and equipment, and can also be transmitted through animal products. Although foot-and-mouth disease is rarely transmitted to humans, it causes significant damage to agriculture, leading to massive livestock losses, strict quarantine measures, and serious economic losses. Due to the high contagiousness of the disease, international veterinary services closely monitor outbreaks and take strict measures to prevent its spread.
PJSC Insurance Company InterExpress (Kyiv) in 2024 collected insurance payments in the amount of UAH 92.334 mln, which is 57.52% more than in 2023.
This has been announced by Standard-Rating agency on updating the company’s credit rating/rating of financial stability (reliability) of the insurer on the national scale at the level of “uaAA”.
Receipts from individuals have grown by 45,35% – to UAH 33,754 mln during this period, and receipts from reinsurers in the analyzed period have amounted to only UAH 197 th. Despite the growth of premiums from individuals, legal entities prevail in the client portfolio of the insurer, the share of which in gross premiums following the results of 2024 has amounted to 63,23%.
RA also informs that insurance payments sent to reinsurers have grown by 26,09% – up to UAH 5,862 mln in 2024 compared to 2023, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums has decreased by 1,58 p.p. – to 6,35%.
Net premiums increased by 60,23% to UAH 86,472 mln, while net earned premiums increased by 56,45% to UAH 83,090 mln.
Payouts for 2024 compared to 2023 more than doubled to UAH 35.698 million and the payout rate increased by 9.55 pp. – up to 38,66%.
Assets of the company as of January 1, 2025 have grown by 45,24% – to UAH 101,851 mln, shareholders’ equity – by 17,52% – to UAH 65,365 mln, liabilities – by 151,52% – to UAH 36,486 mln, cash and cash equivalents – more than 6 times – to UAH 63,662 mln.
IC InterExpress, registered in 2004, specializes in risk types of insurance.
