Business

Bosnia expects to sign a deal with Russia in January that will unlock a long-awaited payment of $125 million as its portion of debt owed by the former Soviet Union to the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia’s finance minister said on Thursday. The announcement came after Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev inked a document accepting the proposal made by the Bosnian government in October. “We expected the contract to be signed in January,” Vjekoslav Bevanda said. Russia signed a debt-settlement memorandum with former Yugoslav republics in 2003, with the total debt to Yugoslavia, estimated at some $1.3 billion in total, to be distributed among all republics of the now defunct Balkan federation. (Reuters)

US businesses stepped up their spending on industrial machinery, steel, and other big-ticket items last month, a sign that one of the economy’s weak spots may be improving. The Commerce Department said Thursday that a measure that tracks business investment rose 0.9 percent in November, after a slight 0.2 percent rise the previous month. Yet those gains follow a 1.5 percent drop in September. Orders for all big-ticket factory goods fell 4.6 percent, mostly because of a sharp fall in demand for commercial aircraft, a volatile category. Excluding transportation-related goods, orders rose 0.5 percent. (AP)

The EU should ask Budapest to return more than €280 million it received to help build a metro line in the Hungarian capital due to “fraud and possible corruption”, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) said on Thursday. Passenger numbers on Budapest’s metro line four, completed in 2014, have fallen far short of initial expectations while the €1.7 billion ($1.8 billion) bill for the project was higher than first estimated, local media have reported. The project was co-financed with EU cohesion funds. A spokesman for the city of Budapest said it had yet to see OLAF’s findings but suggested current officials could not have been involved. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia Thursday projected a 2017 budget deficit of $53 billion, a drop of almost half from a record shortfall reported last year after the world’s top oil exporter was hit by falling crude prices. According to a Cabinet statement, next year’s budget projects spending of 890 billion riyals ($237 billion) and revenues of 692 billion riyals ($184 billion). (AFP)

Parliament’s Treasury Committee is to examine the effectiveness of Bank of England policies since the 2008/09 global financial crisis, criticized by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year for hurting savers. The BoE slashed interest rates to record lows and embarked on a massive bond-buying program to counter the deep recession eight years ago, and further expanded its stimulus after Britain voted to leave the EU in June. The Treasury Committee said on Thursday it would look at the “unintended consequences” of BoE policies and whether they have been effective in controlling inflation.(Reuters)

Israel’s parliament early on Thursday gave final approval to the 2017-2018 state budget that the Finance Ministry says will reduce the cost of living, tackle a housing crisis, and boost economic growth and productivity. Lawmakers voted 60-48 in favor of the nearly 1 trillion shekel ($261 billion) spending package and economic plan. “The budget is a social one,” said Finance Minister Kahlon, “a budget that helps the entire population. It reduces social gaps, increases public spending, cuts taxes and… emphasizes social ministries.” Kahlon has said his policies - which include levying a tax on those who own at least three apartments - would rein in housing prices. (Reuters)