Welcome to „Discover CEE“!
Join us on our excursions to beautiful landscapes and cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), our home market. We discover new or at least lesser-known things, let people have their say and open ourselves to the diversity of other cultures and customs. We take you on a journey into the world of banking, and report on trends, innovations and sustainability.
The name says it all: Discover CEE!!
Croatia is the 20th and most recent addition to the euro area. In this interview, Zrinka Živković-Matijević, Head of Economic Research Department at Raiffeisenbank Austria d.d. Zagreb, sheds light on Croatia's motivations behind adopting the euro as its currency and discusses the obstacles the country faced on its path to joining the euro area.
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for the great feedback we received for Part I of the Vegan CEE Guide in January. The fact that our dear readers enjoyed the recipes and the CEE national cuisines in a plant-based version made me very happy. No wonder, then, that the blog editors asked for Part II back in May (which I had planned for the summer).
In recent years, Belgrade earned the reputation of being the European capital of night life and parties, especially among younger tourists. Plenty bars, clubs, pubs, cafés, and restaurants speak in favor of this title. Still, it would be a pity to miss other things the Serbian capital has to offer: historical places of interest, cultural institutions, beautiful vistas and a very good gastronomic scene.
As we progress into 2023, inflation remains a highly debated topic. According to Casper Engelen and Dorota Strauch, analysts from Raiffeisen Research, 2023 is expected to bring disinflation, with yearly inflation figures shrinking significantly. However, despite this optimistic outlook, consumers may still experience the effects of inflation in their daily lives due to increasing prices of goods and services. In this interview, Engelen and Strauch delve into the causes of inflation and the strategies that CEE governments are adopting to tackle its challenges.
Last year, for the first time, I had the opportunity to spend Easter with a Polish family in my hometown Vienna. Without having thought about it in advance, I agreed, and I can already reveal that I did not regret it. Find out what I learned and ate in this post!
Easter is a holiday of great importance in Croatia. It is a time of the year which we spend celebrating with our families. For Roman Catholics, Easter is the most sacred religious event and we start our Easter holiday preparations at the end of February, just right after the carnival season ends.
Today we are presenting a piece of Albanian culture dating back to the Bronze Age. This authentic piece of artistry was fortunately inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List on 30 November 2022. It brings great delight to us Albanians, but more importantly a sigh of relief, to know that this important cultural asset now stands a chance of survival.
Anita Kovacic, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo, was recognized one of the "Top 10 Inspiring Women Leaders - 2022" by IEra Women Leaders Magazine. Anita’s selection was based on the results of Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo closing the year 2022 as the largest bank in Kosovo in all key financial indicators. But Anita is not only an inspiring leader, she is also a strong advocate for women's empowerment. A reason for us to talk to her about women's advancement in CEE, the advantages of diverse teams and her most important tips for women.
Although many people have not yet come to terms with the division of Czechoslovakia into two separate states and nostalgically recall the common state, the world appreciates the division of the two countries without the use of force. Even the actual division of the state, its assets and national currency into two separate ones was successfully carried out without major upheaval of the then fledgling financial markets.
Although Croatia is a small country, it is considered home to many inventions which have transformed human existence, several of which are still used in everyday life today. Here are five famous innovations you probably didn't even know came from Croatia.