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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Czech market: more questions than answers
The financial crisis of 1998 and its immediate consequences were put behind thanks to the quick measures taken by the Czech government, to the growing foreign investments ($2,5 billion in 1998; $5,5 billion in 1999) and also to the prospects of EU membership and to the stable conditions in the main foreign markets. The Czech National Bank has recently decided to cut its main interest rates in order to push up the economic activity, expected to reach 3.5% increase in 2003. The rate cut by the way is intended to encourage consumers to take out mortgages. Right now the Czech interest rates are far lower than in the other former communist countries in the region. There are nevertheless some reasons to worry about the future prospects of the country, especially comparing it to some other neighboring states. There are fears that the political fights over who will succeed the president Vaclav Havel will continue and that this will use up the parliamentarian time needed for passing the economic laws. The weak points in need to be fixed, according to the foreign investors, are the bankruptcy law, the commercial code, the commercial register, the public procurement, the labor law and the commercial courts. The Czech republic has all reasons to hurry up meeting the investors' proposals, otherwise it risks losing in the future the battle for the western money against its neighbors, e.g. Slovakia. This country has already begun working on improving its business environment and has won a major investment project of the French car consortium Peugeot-Citroen. Another problem that could arise in the future is connected with the almost inevitable adoption of the Euro. The common European currency has shown that even the strongest economies in the continent such as Germany could be harmed. Needless to say this harm will be of much bigger magnitude when the country affected has weaker economy such as the Czech republic. The real estate prices for the similar properties, both residential and commercial, are still lower in this country than in many Western European states. So far financial groups from some EU countries have taken over the most "A" class office spaces in the capital city. Local experts say although that the unrealistic pricing and the lack of good-quality stock have limited the market activity. The prices in Prague are twice higher than in the province. Especially high are the prices and the rents in the Prague's city center, where the competition is fierce between the investors, both international and national.
----- ** - Poland, Hungary and Slovakia all have key rates above 6%. *** - In this respect the Euro-Czech business forum presented recently the Czech government a 92-page booklet "Agenda 2003", containing a list of proposals to improve the business environment.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Czech Republic.
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