August 6
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România Internațional, 06.08.2013, 13:00
The National Bank of Romania has upgraded the economic growth forecasts for this year to over 2%, thanks to exports, the industrial output and a good agricultural year, the Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu has announced. In another move, the Central Bank’s decision to reduce the monetary policy interest rate to 4.5% comes into force today. According to Mugur Isarescu, the decision was made in order to boost lending. The Governor has voiced hope that in September this year, the drop in the monetary policy interest rate will have positive effects on the loans that banks grant to citizens.
In June, the average net salary in Romania was the equivalent of approximately 360 Euros, according to data provided by the National Statistics Institute. The biggest salaries were reported in the oil and natural gas industry — 900 Euros, while salaries in the hospitality industry stood at only 200 Euros. As compared to the month of June of the previous year, the average net salary went up by 3.5%.
The Greek public television will resume news broadcasts before the end of August, the deputy Culture Minister Pantelis Kapsis has announced. A temporary entity with only 2 thousand employees will broadcast for 3 months until the establishment of a new public television, NERIT. The sudden closure of the Greek public broadcaster triggered a wave of protests in the country and abroad and also a rupture in the government coalition headed by Conservative Antonis Samaras.
The USA Tuesday flew its diplomatic personnel out of Yemen and urged all American citizens to immediately leave that country for fear of possible attacks staged by Al Qaeda. Great Britain has also withdrawn the staff of its embassy in the capital city Sanaa. Also on Tuesday, 4 alleged members of the terrorist network were killed in a drone attack east of Sanaa. The alert comes amid the American security alerts that led to the closing of several US diplomatic offices in the Middle East and Africa. Great Britain and Germany will keep their embassies in Yemen closed down throughout this week, France will open its diplomatic posts on Thursday, while Norway has closed down its missions in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Tehran is ready for “serious and substantive negotiations” with the West so as to end the Iranian nuclear crisis, the new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, said in his first press conference after the election. Rouhani, a moderate Conservative, emphasised however that a solution could be reached solely through talks, not threats. On the other hand, the new leader said that if the USA demonstrated goodwill towards Iran and an atmosphere of mutual respect was created, the way was open for talks to remove the concerns of both sides. Rouhani took over from hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose term in office was defined by tensions with the West over the Iranian nuclear file.
The film “When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism” by the Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu will have its world premiere at the 66th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, held between August the 7th and 17th. According to a news release issued by the EC, the film is one of the four in the Locarno feature competition to have benefited from EU funding, under the MEDIA programme. Taking part in this year’s edition will be celebrities like Christopher Lee, Faye Dunaway, Werner Herzog, Sergio Castellitto and Otar Iosseliani. Actress Jacqueline Bisset will receive a lifetime achievement award. At present, 33 countries take part in the MEDIA programme: the 28 EU member states, plus Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which joined the programme in July.
