September 25, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 25.09.2023, 19:14

Measures.
The government has adopted a bill containing new tax and budget measures aimed
at boosting budget revenues and cut spending. The Social Democrat prime
minister Marcel Ciolacu said Romania can no
longer afford to pay 75 billion lei worth of reliefs and privileges and lose 150
billion lei a year to tax evasion. Under the new measures, all employees will
pay health insurance contributions, including those working in the building
sector and agriculture, who are exempt at the moment. Also, IT employees earning more than 10,000 lei will pay tax and public
sector workers earning more than 8,000 lei will no longer benefit from holiday
vouchers and meal bonuses. People owning homes worth in excess of 500,000
euros will pay a special duty, provided
they do not pay bank rates. The bill does not provide for significant VAT
changes, Ciolacu said. New tax regulations for the business environment are
also envisaged. The bill will be submitted to Parliament, where it may be
subject to amendments, and then back to the government for the final version
before again making its way to Parliament, where a date and time will be
established for prime minister Marcel Ciolacu to officially assume
responsibility in respect of the bill. The social and economic committee gave
the bill a negative opinion, saying the measures to cut spending are
unconvincing and will have a negative effect on the economy. The opposition
parties the Save Romania Union and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians have
criticised the measures and are considering a no-confidence motion.

IMF. A team of the International
Monetary Fund begins in Bucharest the annual assessment of the Romanian
economy. Until October 4th, the international experts will be holding talks on
the economic policies and the latest developments in the field with
representatives of the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank and various NGOs. The
IMF team will also be meeting representatives of the private sector for talks,
which are taking place periodically in all member states with a view to
presenting recommendations for ensuring stability and a positive development at
the level of the economy.

Poll. According to a poll conducted by
the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology, (CURS) 69% of respondents believe
things are more likely to go in the wrong direction in Romania, while only 22%
believe the country goes in the right direction. 41% of those surveyed believe
their situation will be more difficult next year, 38% that it will remain the
same and 18% say things will improve. According to the poll, the main issues
the Romanians are presently facing are high inflation rate, the rise in prices,
low incomes, living standard, corruption
and theft. The most trusted institutions remain the firefighters (73%) followed
by the army (68%) and the church (63%). If elections were to take place next
Sunday, 50% of the interviewees would be voting for the parties now in power, the
Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party.

Festival. The concert of the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra of Amsterdam on Sunday evening ended the 26th edition of the George
Enescu International Music Festival. Radio Romania’s Academic Choir and
Children’s Choir also took part in the festival, which brought together over 40
orchestras from 16 countries and over 35 hundred of the world’s most renowned
musicians, making it one of the biggest in the world. The Enescu festival is
followed by Remember Enescu, a competition for young musicians, which got under
way on Monday in Timisoara, western Romania. (CM)