November 14, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 14.11.2022, 19:58

Inflation. The
National Bank of Romania raised its inflation forecast for the end of this year
to 16.3% and estimates a rate of 11.2% for the end of next year, according to
data presented on Monday by governor Mugur Isărescu. In August, the National
Bank had forecast an inflation rate of 13.9% for the end of the year and of
7.5% for 2023. Last week, it said it expected the annual inflation rate to go
up at a moderate pace towards the end of the year before decreasing gradually
to a single-digit level in the first half of 2024.

Energy.
Prime minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Monday he
wanted more categories, such as families with more than three children,
churches and public services, to benefit from the compensated energy prices.
The government plans to maintain its cap on electricity prices until 2025,
adopting a new emergency order to this end that establishes a mechanism for the
centralised purchase of electricity of 450 lei (the equivalent of some 90
euros) for MWh. The new order maintains the three types of prices for household
consumers: almost 14 eurocents for monthly average consumption of up to 100
KWh, some 16 eurocents for monthly average consumption of up to 225 KWh and
some 26 eurocents for monthly average consumption of more than 255 KWh. Small
and medium sized companies will pay some 20 eurocents and large consumers up to
roughly 26 eurocents. The emergency order was adopted with amendments by the
Senate and has been submitted for debate in the Chamber of Deputies, which is
the decision-making body in this case.

Statistics.
The overall electricity consumption fell in Romania by 5.7% in the first nine
months of the year, with the population saving 8% compared with the same period
last year, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute on
Monday. Also, the country’s production shrank by 6%, while imports grew by 14%
and exports by 9% compared with the same period last year.

EU.
The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu on Monday requested the EU’s Foreign
Affairs Committee to discuss the situation
in the Republic of Moldova, preferably at its upcoming meeting in December. He
attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers where he reiterated his support for
Moldova, which is affected by the vulnerabilities with respect to energy
security. The agenda of the meeting included ways to counteract the Russian
aggression against Ukraine, with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba attending by
videoconference. Minister Aurescu underscored the need for the EU to continue
to support Ukraine at all levels, political, financial, military and economic,
and to maintain political pressure on Russia. According to a statement from the
Romanian foreign ministry, Aurescu also announced that Ukraine exported 6.5
million tonnes of grain with Romania’s help and recalled that a new border
crossing point between Romania and Ukraine was opened last week

Bombing.
The man responsible for planting a bomb on a busy shopping street in Istanbul was
arrested, said Turkey’s interior minister Souleyman Soylu
on Monday. The minister blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for the attack,
but the latter denied any involvement. In Bucharest, both president Klaus
Iohannis and prime minister Nicolae Ciuca sent messages of condolences to the
Turkish people for the losses suffered and wished full recovery to the injured
following the tragic incident. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry,
until now, no Romanian citizens have been identified among the victims of the
attack and the Consulate General received no requests for consular assistance
in connection with this incident. (CM)