May 10, 2022 UPDATE

A round up of local and international news.

Newsroom, 10.05.2022, 19:44

Daesh/ISIS.
Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu is attending on Wednesday a
ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS held in Marrakesh, in Morocco. Chaired by
the US and Morocco, the meeting will be attended by 75 representatives of the
Coalition’s member states and international organisations, including the
majority of NATO and EU states, partner states in the Western Balkans, the
Middle East, Africa and Asia, as well as the European Union, NATO and Interpol.
Talks will look at the Coalition’s actions in the last year and will agree on
the main lines of action and priorities to continue to fight terrorist threats
at regional and global level, with a focus on the security situation in Iraq
and Syria and the evolution of the terrorist phenomenon on the African continent
and in Afghanistan.

Celebrations. On
10th May Romania celebrated National Independence Day, the day
Romania obtained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877 at the end of
the Russian-Ottoman war. On this occasion, president Klaus Iohannis said
independence is one of the pillars of the Romanian modern state, while
celebrating National Independence Day is a suitable opportunity to commemorate
the milestones that helped create the Romanian nation. On 10th of
May Romania also celebrated Monarchy Day, which was the National Day of Romania
from 1866 to 1947. The date marks the start of the 48-year-long rule of Carol I
of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, the first in a dynasty of four kings. The ethnic
Romanian communities in the Balkans were also celebrated on 10th
May.

Inflation. The
National Bank of Romania on Tuesday increased the monetary policy interest rate
from 3% to 3.75% per year, from 11th May. This is a substantial
increase amid the highest inflation rate in the last decade. The Bank thus
follows a wider regional trend, with the reference interest rate close to 6% in
Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Commercial banks are now expected to
also increase their interest rates in line with the National Bank in order to
discourage loan-taking and reduce consumption.

Forecast. The
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has lowered Romania’s
economic growth forecast for 2022 and 2023, after a 5.9% recovery in 2021
mainly driven by strong private consumption, says an EBRD report. Romania’s
economy is expected to grow by 2.5% this year, down from a previous March forecast
of 2.8%, and by 3% next year, compared to a previous estimate of 4.1%. The EBRD
notes that the Romanian economy entered 2022
on a weak footing, as GDP declined by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2021.

Refugees.
The members of the human rights committee in the Romanian Senate and a delegation
from the Ukrainian Parliament on a trip to Bucharest on Tuesday highlighted the
help provided by the Romanian people to the almost 1 million persons who
crossed the border into Romania to flee war. The priorities are healthcare,
education, and, especially, children’s needs, said Anca Dragu, the president of
the Senate’s human rights committee at a meeting with the Ukrainian MPs. She
said Romania received over 4,400 asylum applications. The head of the Ukrainian
delegation Liudmyla Marchenko thanked the Romanian people for the help given
and expressed hope that Romania would also contribute to Ukraine’s
reconstruction.

Exercise. Cincu,
in central Romania on Tuesday hosted the opening ceremony of Resolute Castle
22, a multinational exercise involving military engineers with Romanian Land
Forces and structures of the US Land Forces Command for Europe and Africa and
the British Ministry of Defence, says the Romanian Ministry of Defence. The
purpose of Resolute Castle 22 is to increase the level of interoperability through
constant training and implementing innovative solutions to joint engineering
problems. Also on Tuesday, a multinational military exercise got under way in the
village of Comăneşti, in Bacău County, lasting five days and involving military
personnel and equipment of the Romanian Defence Ministry and NATO. (CM)