December 23, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 23.12.2023, 18:45

GDP. Romania’s GDP in 2022 stood at around 1,400 billion lei (the
equivalent of 280 billion euros), more than 8.4 billion lei less compared with
the previous estimate, according to provisional data published by the National
Institute for Statistics. The new figures show that last year’s economic growth
rate was 4.1% instead of the estimated 4.7%. The change was the result of the
reduction of contributions to economic growth, both in agriculture and industry
and the building sector. The final data on the country’s GDP in 2022 will
published in the first part of 2024.

Borders. The border crossings in western Romania are becoming
increasingly busy, as thousands of Romanians are leaving or entering the
country for the holidays. Nădlac 2, on the border with Hungary, is the busiest
at this time of the year. The border police has more staff working at passport control
and recommend travelers to use all available border crossings to prevent
overcrowding.

Air travel. The Romanian state airliner TAROM said in a statement that
it would resume flights to Tel Aviv from 1st January 2024,
conducting two flights a week. The company said it continues to keep a close
eye on the security situation in Israel and that it is in constant contact with
the local and international authorities with a view to resuming operations. The
flight schedule will be adjusted depending on the situation in Israel, the
company also said.