MEETING The Liberal government in
\nBucharest is to convene in a new meeting on Thursday after senators on
\nWednesday endorsed the postponement to January 1st 2022 of the date
\nwhen magistrates can take early retirement. Also on that date, panels of judges
\nin lower courts would go from two to three. The Senate is a decision maker in
\nthis case. The joint permanent bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and the
\nSenate earlier decided that the joint meeting for the Executive to assume
\nresponsibility for these laws take place on Thursday. The documents are dealing
\nwith the postponement of the magistrates’ early retirement, with repealing an
\nordinance regulating road transportation in Romania, as well as some measures
\naimed at regulating student transportation and setting budget ceilings. <\/p>\n
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INFLATION Romania’s annual inflation rate rose to
\n3.8% in November 2019 from 3.4% in October, against the background of price
\nhikes in food and non-food products and service, data published on Wednesday by
\nthe National Institute for Statistics shows. The National Bank of Romania
\nlowered to 3.8% its inflation rate forecast for the end of 2019 and estimates
\nan inflation rate of 3.1% for the end of 2020. In turn, the IMF revised up its
\nestimates for consumption prices in Romania this year up to an annual average
\ngrowth of 4.2% as against 3.3% estimated in spring. <\/p>\n
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OLYMPIAD Romania’s junior team has reaped two gold
\nand four silver medals in the 16th edition of the International
\nScience Olympiad held in Doha (Qatar) over December 3rd and 12th.
\nThe participants in the aforementioned competition competed in three events,
\ntwo individual theory contests and one, which involved team work on experiments
\nin chemistry, physics and biology. This year’s edition of the competition in
\nDoha has brought together 400 students from 70 countries. <\/p>\n
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RATING Standard and Poor’s
\n(S&P) has revised down Romania’s outlook from stable to negative, due to
\nthe deficit increase, affirming their ‘BBB-\/A-3’ ratings for the long and short
\nterm debt in hard currency and the local currency. The large spending
\ndeviations by the previous Social Democratic government have forced Romania’s current
\nleadership to revise up its fiscal targets for 2019 and 2020, against the
\nbackdrop of a slowing economy, S&P shows. According to the S&P report,
\nthe planned wage and pension increases will contribute to a widening of
\nRomania’s already substantial current account deficit through 2020. Although
\nthe agency expects significant fiscal consolidation to commence next year, the
\nrigid budget structure and volatile policy environment pose risks to that
\nassumption. Also S&P warns that it might lower its ratings on Romania
\nwithin the next 24 months if fiscal and external imbalances continue to
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PRICE HIKES Due to swine fever and the
\nincrease in import prices, the price of pork meat has doubled in 2019 and it
\nmight triple in early 2020, says the president of the Romanian Meat
\nAssociation, Radu Timis. He has however given assurances that for the winter
\nholidays Romanians will find pork meat in shops. Radu Timis believes that next
\nyear half of the companies processing pork in Europe will disappear. In turn,
\nthe National Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Authority has given
\nassurances that it will draft a new strategy for fighting and controlling
\nAfrican swine fever, that will have to be assumed by all institutions involved
\nand also by farmers and the line industry. <\/p>\n
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(translated by
\nbill)<\/p>\n
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