January 1, 2017 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 01.01.2018, 19:02
TENNIS The world’s best tennis player, Simona Halep, on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the WTA tournament in Shenzhen, China, which has more than 630 thousand dollars in prize money. The Romanian secured a two-set win, 6-4, 6-1 against US challenger Nicole Gibbs. In the second game of the day, Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania conceded defeat to Maria Sharapova of Russia, while Ana Bogdan also from Romania lost to Camila Giorgi of Italy. On Sunday, Irina Begu outperformed Chinese Fangzhou Liu and qualified for the round of sixteen, whereas Monica Niculescu was eliminated by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. Irina Begu and Simona Halep have qualified for the tournament’s quarterfinals where they will be playing their compatriots Irina Bara and Mihaela Buzarnescu.
FORECAST Romania’s National Forecast Committee estimates a 5.5% economic growth for 2018 and a GDP per capita of 10 thousand euros. According to this forecast, household consumption will be 6.2% higher than the value registered in 2017, while the real salary growth will be around 7.7%. International financial institutions have also forecast a significant growth rate of 4.2% for Romania in 2018.
FISCAL MEASURES As of January 1st 2018, minimum wages in Romania will rise from 300 to 410 euros, the minimum pension will stay at 135 euros and the income tax will go down to 10%. Also spaced-out VAT payment becomes mandatory for companies with overdue debts or in insolvency. At the same time the social insurance contributions will be transferred from employers to employees, which implies the renegotiation of some labour contracts in which some incomes might be diminished. According to the government, suchlike measures will have a positive impact over the GDP, boosting the creation of fresh jobs, raising the employees’ purchasing power at the same time curbing illegal working. However, pundits believe the impact of the aforementioned measures both on the people and business environment cannot be properly assessed at present.
EU On January 1st Bulgaria took over for the first time in history the EU rotating presidency. The block’s poorest member often criticised for its ineffective crackdown on endemic corruption, Sofia counts on the move to improve its image, France Press reports. Bulgaria, a country that joined the EU in 2007, tries to convince that it is ready to join the Schengen and the Euro zone as well. The Bulgarian presidency unfolds under the motto, ‘unity makes power’ and will be focusing on consensus, competitiveness and cohesion. Its number 1 priority is ‘the young people and Europe’s future’, next comes ‘European prospects and regional cooperation of the countries in Western Balkans’. The third priority is ‘security and stability within a strong and united Europe’ with emphasis on fighting illegal migration while the fourth priority is ‘digital economy and competitiveness’. A very difficult task for Sofia is to broker the Brexit talks. Another objective of the centre-right government headed by Boiko Borisov is to get the Control and Verification Mechanism, which still applies to Romania and Bulgaria, removed.
