December 11, 2019 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 11.12.2019, 20:09
MEETING The Liberal government in
Bucharest is to convene in a new meeting on Thursday after senators on
Wednesday endorsed the postponement to January 1st 2022 of the date
when magistrates can take early retirement. Also on that date, panels of judges
in lower courts would go from two to three. The Senate is a decision maker in
this case. The joint permanent bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate earlier decided that the joint meeting for the Executive to assume
responsibility for these laws take place on Thursday. The documents are dealing
with the postponement of the magistrates’ early retirement, with repealing an
ordinance regulating road transportation in Romania, as well as some measures
aimed at regulating student transportation and setting budget ceilings.
INFLATION Romania’s annual inflation rate rose to
3.8% in November 2019 from 3.4% in October, against the background of price
hikes in food and non-food products and service, data published on Wednesday by
the National Institute for Statistics shows. The National Bank of Romania
lowered to 3.8% its inflation rate forecast for the end of 2019 and estimates
an inflation rate of 3.1% for the end of 2020. In turn, the IMF revised up its
estimates for consumption prices in Romania this year up to an annual average
growth of 4.2% as against 3.3% estimated in spring.
OLYMPIAD Romania’s junior team has reaped two gold
and four silver medals in the 16th edition of the International
Science Olympiad held in Doha (Qatar) over December 3rd and 12th.
The participants in the aforementioned competition competed in three events,
two individual theory contests and one, which involved team work on experiments
in chemistry, physics and biology. This year’s edition of the competition in
Doha has brought together 400 students from 70 countries.
RATING Standard and Poor’s
(S&P) has revised down Romania’s outlook from stable to negative, due to
the deficit increase, affirming their ‘BBB-/A-3’ ratings for the long and short
term debt in hard currency and the local currency. The large spending
deviations by the previous Social Democratic government have forced Romania’s current
leadership to revise up its fiscal targets for 2019 and 2020, against the
backdrop of a slowing economy, S&P shows. According to the S&P report,
the planned wage and pension increases will contribute to a widening of
Romania’s already substantial current account deficit through 2020. Although
the agency expects significant fiscal consolidation to commence next year, the
rigid budget structure and volatile policy environment pose risks to that
assumption. Also S&P warns that it might lower its ratings on Romania
within the next 24 months if fiscal and external imbalances continue to
deteriorate and persist for longer than the agency currently anticipates.
PRICE HIKES Due to swine fever and the
increase in import prices, the price of pork meat has doubled in 2019 and it
might triple in early 2020, says the president of the Romanian Meat
Association, Radu Timis. He has however given assurances that for the winter
holidays Romanians will find pork meat in shops. Radu Timis believes that next
year half of the companies processing pork in Europe will disappear. In turn,
the National Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Authority has given
assurances that it will draft a new strategy for fighting and controlling
African swine fever, that will have to be assumed by all institutions involved
and also by farmers and the line industry.
(translated by
bill)
