February 7, 2025
A roundup of the latest local and world news
Daniel Bilț, 07.02.2025, 13:55
GDP Romania has overcome Poland in terms of the GDP per capita against purchasing power says a survey conducted by experts with the Romanian Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. According to the same sources, Romania is also ahead other economies in the region, such as Hungary, Croatia or Greece and the nominal GDP per capita has risen by 11% in the past five years, exceeding 80% of the EU average. We’ll be having more on this after the news
WAGES According to the latest economic forecasts of the European Commission in Romania wages will moderately increase in 2025 and 2026. The European Commission has based its forecasts on the already significant increases in the minimum wages already made by the government in Bucharest, the lower inflation and the labour market relaxation, which is expected to reduce the unemployment rate. European Commission experts are expecting price hikes in energy and food to significantly decrease. The inflation rate is expected to drop down to the Central Bank’s target of 2.5% towards the end of 2026.
THEFT The Dutch police have announced they have received hundreds of hints regarding the theft of the precious Romanian artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. Many of these are about the places where the suspects have been seen and their contacts. The police last week apprehended three suspects, two men and a woman who refused to say where the stolen objects are stashed. All the three suspects are still in police custody. Art detective, Arthur Brand says there is 50% risk the suspects have already melted the golden artefacts: an ancient helmet and three bracelets dating back to the old kingdom of Dacia, 25 hundred years ago, which had been loaned out by the National History Museum in Bucharest.
VISIT The head of the US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, will be travelling to Israel and several Arab countries in mid-February, the US Department of State has announced. This would be Rubio’s first trip as a Secretary of State to the region after the US President, Donald Trump’s statement on resettling the Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip under US monitoring. Trump’s resettlement idea has prompted a series of accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Rubio insists that Donald Trump proposed the reconstruction of the aforementioned territory, which at present offers improper dwelling conditions. According to AFP, Rubio will be participating in the Security Conference in Munich and is going on a Middle East tour, which will take him to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over February 13 and 18.
IMF Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is meeting an IMF team, whose four days trip to Bucharest ends today. The IMF experts are having talks with Central Bank officials, including governor Isarescu. The IMF delegation hasn’t called for strict financial measures, like tax hikes or other austerity measures, Finance Minister Tanczos Barna says. Barna met the new head of the IMF mission to Romania, Joong Shik Kang on Thursday. At present Romania doesn’t have an IMF funding agreement underway, but the institution is presently monitoring Romania’s economy, under Article Four, which provides for a mandatory monitoring exercise involving all member states. The consultations’ main purpose was financial and economic assessment at national level as well as recommendations concerning monetary, financial and economic policies with a view to achieving economic stability and development.
(bill)
