November 17, 2016
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Newsroom, 17.11.2016, 12:00
SEARCHES Prosecutors with the Bucharest’s Sector One Court are carrying out searches at the head offices of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, taking up files from several offices. According to legal sources, searches are conducted in connection to some contracts granted to companies belonging to members of the corporation’s managing board or to some of their associates. The prejudice has been estimated at 90 thousand euros.
INCOME Incomes in Romania have seen a 13% rise in the past 12 months, while consumption has increased by 10% against the latest cuts in taxes and prices, shows a balance sheet presented by the country’s technocratic Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos after one year in power. By and large, the economy’s growth pace has increased from 3.8% in 2015 to over 4% in 2016. Pundits have pointed out to the fact that pay rises have caused an unprecedented increase in demand for goods and services, which, in turn, has triggered an almost 7% rise in imports. Because exports went on to a much slower pace of only 4.3%, the trade deficit soared and that might lead to a generalized imbalance in macroeconomic indicators.
EURO In order to join the Eurozone, Romania might need a yearly economic growth of 5% by 2024 — shows a survey carried out by the European Institute. With such a sustained growth, Romania might reach 75 percentages of the EU average in terms of the GDP per capita. According to the survey, the development gap between the states using euros and the others does not recommend it for accession yet. Because Romania’s economic structure is very different from those in the Eurozone, the country would have more to lose if it gave up its independent monetary policy, the report says. We recall the initial term set by the authorities in Bucharest for adopting the single currency was 2015.
VISIT Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu on Tuesday and Wednesday paid an official visit to Jordan. During the talks with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh and with the spokesman for the Senate, Faisal Al-Fayez several issues were tackled including bilateral cooperation and the latest Middle East developments. Both sides voiced interest in raising trade exchanges by developing new projects in sectors such as IT, communication, health, agriculture, energy, education and tourism. The head of the diplomacy in Bucharest and officials in Amman also talked about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the crises in Syria and Iraq. In another development, Comanescu conveyed an invitation from Romanian president Klaus Iohannis to the Jordanian sovereign, Abdullah ll to pay a visit to Bucharest.
DECEASED The Romanian football world is in mourning as 44 year old former international Daniel Prodan died of a heart attack on Thursday. A five years champion with the Romanian football side Steaua Bucharest, Prodan also played with Atletico Madrid in Spain and with Scottish side Glasgow Rangers. A member of the so-called Golden Generation of the Romanian football, Prodan, who was described by the sport press as an ‘iron fullback’, won 54 caps for the national football side and participated in the World Cup 1994 and the European Championship of 1996.
GAUDEAMUS The Gaudeamus International Book fair currently underway in Bucharest will today be seeing numerous book launches, including the bilingual (Romanian-English) anthology of Romanian post-war prose “10.000 de semne/10,000 characters”, launched at the Romanian Cultural Institute’s stand. Until Sunday the fair will have been attended by hundreds of publishing houses, and have seen over 850 events. The largest stand allotted to a participant country is that of China, an honorary guest to the present edition. Gaudeamus Book Fair has been staged by Radio Romania, the world’s single radio station to have initiated and carried such a large-scale project in support of written culture.
