SERBIA:

Societe Generale Group has signed an agreement on planning the sale of Societe Generale Group in Serbia to OTP Group, conditioned on the approval by the National Bank of Serbia and the Commission for Protection of Competition, it was confirmed for Beta. The sales process covers SOGE Leasing and SOGE Osiguranje, whereas Societe Generale Group will remain present in Serbia through ALD Automotive. The transaction should be finalized in the upcoming months. In its press release, Societe Generale Serbia says that the bank has realized record operating results in the past few years.
Source: Ekapija

Agreement on construction of Belgrade-Sarajevo highway section from Sremska Raca to Kuzmin signed – Value at EUR 250 million
The commercial agreement on the design and construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway section from Sremska Raca to Kuzmin, worth EUR 250 million, was signed in Belgrade on December 19, and Serbian Transport Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said that connecting Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina this way was important to the stability of the region. The agreement was signed by Zorana Mihajlovic, the acting director of the Roads of Serbia, Zoran Drobnjak, and Emrullah Turanli, the president of the Turkish company Tasyapi, which will realize this project. The Belgrade-Sarajevo highway will feature two routes. In the territory of Serbia, they entail sections Raca-Kuzmin (around 17 kilometers) and Pozega-Uzice-Kotroman (around 60 kilometers). The construction of both sections in the territory of Serbia is worth a total of around EUR 1.05 billion, with the Sremska Raca-Kuzmin section being worth around EUR 220 million, whereas the construction of the Pozega-Kotroman section will cost around EUR 830 million.
Source: Ekapija

Not a single Serbian product is protected in EU
There isn’t a single product from Serbia among the 3,000 products with the protected geographic origin in the EU – says Davide Liberati, the head of the EU project for organic production and protection of geographic origin. However, he strongly believes that that Serbia has a great potential to become EU-categorized because it has great potential for development considering the fact that it already has 44 products with a geographical indication registered at the national level.
Source: Serbiamonitor

REGION:

Serbia redeems state bonds before due date
Serbia has redeemed state bonds worth 10 billion Dinars before their due date thanks to a budget surplus, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. The press release that one million three-year Dinar state bonds which fall due on February 22, 2019 had been bought with a yield rate of three percent. It said that all the bonds on offer had been bought, adding that an offer had been made to buy state bonds worth a total of 16.5 billion Dinars (1 Euro – 118 Dinars). The Finance Ministry said the bonds were bought using surplus budget funds with the aim of reducing public debts which fall due in 2019.
Source: N1

INO:

Dow drops 470 points to 14-month low in second day of big losses following Fed rate hike, Europe finishes deep in the red, with stocks hitting a 2-year low, Airbus falls 4.5%
U.S. stocks swooned for a second day Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates and said that it would continue to let its massive balance sheet shrink at the current pace. Fears of a government shutdown also sent stocks tumbling to new lows Thursday afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 464.06 points to 22,859.6, bringing its two-day declines to more than 800 points and its 5-day losses to more than 1,700 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent to finish at 2,467.41 as technology stocks underperformed. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6 percent and closed at 6,528.41, briefly dipping into bear market territory amid big losses in Amazon and Apple.
Energy stocks were the worst performer as oil prices plummeted to a 17-month low on fears of a global economic slowdown.
European markets closed Thursday's trade deep in the red, echoing the negative sessions seen in markets overseas. Falling to its lowest since at least December 2016, the pan-European STOXX 600 finished down 1.45 percent, with all major sectors posting sharp losses.
Looking at individual stocks, Airbus shares slumped 9 percent Thursday morning on reports the company is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for "inappropriate practices." By the market close, shares had pared losses to sit 4.44 percent lower.
Switching focus, central banking news has remained in focus on Thursday. During the session, the Bank of England (BOE) held interest rates steady, with the U.K.'s economic outlook highly uncertain less than 100 days before the country leaves the European Union.
Source: CNBC