March 13, 2024
A round up of the main international and domestic news
Newsroom, 13.03.2024, 13:55
VISIT Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, is today having talks with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis. Currently on a visit to Romania, the OECD official is also going to meet the Senate president, Nicolae Ciuca, as well as members of the joint Special Committee with the Chamber of Deputies and Senate with a view to supporting the process of Romania’s access to the organization. “Romania’s reforms have a good pace. You are a beautiful country on the right way to comply with the living standards of the OECD countries”, the official said on Tuesday at the launch of the organisation’s 2024 Economic Survey for Romania.
NATO Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, has formally announced his intention to run for the position of NATO Secretary General. His intention is based upon a profound understanding of the challenges the Alliance is currently facing as well as Romania’s performances within NATO. The Romanian president’s candidature comes in the last year of his second term in office and because the incumbent NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is going to step down from this position he has occupied since 2014.
RATE According to data released today by the National Institute for Statistics, INS, the annual inflation rate in Romania went down to 7.23% in February from 7.41% in the previous month against the latest price hikes in food, non-food stuff and services, which went up by 4.48%, 7.82% and 11% respectively. Romania’s Central Bank has revised down to 4.7% its inflation forecast for the end of this year, from 4.8% in November. According to data made public in February, inflation is expected to reach 3.5% in late 2025. The forecast has seen a downward trend this year against the indicator’s more favourable developments of late, especially in the food production segment.
PROTEST Taxi drivers have today taken to the streets of Bucharest with over 4 thousand vehicles to call for rights similar to the alternative-transport companies operating in Romania. They have repeatedly sounded the alarm regarding the unfair competition in this field in dire need of regulations because of the faulty legislation and the emergence of a parallel alternative transport structure. The Transport Ministry has published a bill of amendments regulating the alternative-transport services, amendments asked by the protesters’ representatives. However, according to the taxi drivers, the bill lacks the limitation of compliant copies for cars owned by operators on loan or rental contracts on similar criteria with those applied for taxi services, with a view to protecting the quality of life and air to avoid traffic jams and pollution in the big cities.
WEATHER And now a couple of things about the weather in Romania, where the sky is overcast and rain showers have been reported in most of the territory. Mixed precipitations have been reported in the mountains and the highs of the day are ranging between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 10 degrees.
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