September 4, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 04.09.2024, 13:55
Amnesty – The Romanian government is analyzing, in today’s meeting, the draft emergency ordinance regarding tax amnesty for companies and individuals. The document provides bonuses for those who pay their taxes on time as well as for those who decide to pay certain arrears. The budget deficit target for this year could be reached, say the Finance Ministry representatives, if several categories of measures were implemented to improve the collection of budget debts, because at the end of August the arrears to the state budget of natural persons and legal entities exceeded 71 billion lei (over 14 billion Euros). The state wants to recover these arrears, asking the debtors to pay their main debt by November 25, and consequently interest, penalties and all related accessories will be cancelled. On the other hand, natural persons, authorized natural persons and professionals who have debts smaller than 5.000 lei (1,000 Euros) can benefit from a special amnesty. The draft ordinance also provides for measures that curb spending on goods and services, as well as spending on investments. Economists anticipate that the budget deficit will exceed 7% of the GDP this year.
Green Corridor – The ‘Green Corridor’ project is a matter of national security and a bold response to the energy problem, to the need to diversify energy resources in the eastern flank region, the Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja said in a press conference on Tuesday. The Energy Ministry organized, on Tuesday, a meeting of the Energy Ministers from the states involved in the implementation of the “Green Corridor” project, the 8th edition, with the participation of the European Commission (EC). The countries participating in this project are Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The “Green Corridor” project provides for the construction of a direct current cable that will connect the first four states. Bulgaria had a guest status at the ministerial meeting in Bucharest.
Football – Romania’s national football team starts, on Friday, the new season of the League of Nations. The Romanian footballers will play the first away match against Kosovo, and on Monday, September 9, they will face Lithuania at home. Cyprus is also part of Romania’s group C2. First place means direct promotion to League B of the next edition of the League of Nations, while second place leads to the play-off for promotion. At the same time, the 4th place leads to direct relegation to League D, while the 3rd place keeps the national team in the same League C for the next edition as well. Being ranked in the League of Nations groups has a direct effect on the European preliminaries for the 2026 World Championship. The new coach of the national team is Mircea Lucescu, who returns to this post after almost 4 decades. Edward Iordanescu left the position of selector after Euro 2024, the edition in which the Romanian team qualified for the round of 16.
Ukraine – The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, submitted his resignation on Wednesday, announced the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanciuk, according to Reuters. Stefanciuk said the resignation is to be discussed by lawmakers soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said changes were taking place in the government to consolidate and achieve the results Ukraine wants. AFP previously reported that at least six Ukrainian politicians, including ministers, submitted their resignations on Tuesday and a presidential adviser was dismissed ahead of the announcement of a major government reshuffle after two and a half years of war with Russia. Several ministers have already submitted their resignations on Tuesday evening, especially those in the strategic industry, Oleksandr Kamişin, responsible for armament production, in the justice field, Denis Maliuska, and in the environment field Ruslan Strileţ.
Stock exchange – The stock market in Romania is registering one of the highest growth in Europe, and investors are optimistic about the continuation of this trend. BET, the reference index of the capital market in Romania, consisting of the shares of the 20 most valuable companies from different fields of activity, had, in the last 12 months, a return of almost 40% and was ranked 5th among the more than 90 stock indices tracked by the Bloomberg agency. Despite the decline recorded in August, the BET index is close to its all-time high, having risen in 13 of the last 15 months. The listing in 2023 of the state company Hidroelectrica, whose initial public offering raised 1.8 billion dollars, brought even more foreign investors to Romania. After the success recorded, the Romanian state is now analyzing the sale of shares in other companies it owns, such as the Bucharest National Airports Company (Compania Nationala Aeroporturi). Experts believe that the capital market in Romania could be raised, next year, from the status of a frontier market to an emerging market. And all this in the context in which investors are carefully watching the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for December, as well as how the government in Bucharest intends to reduce one of the largest budget deficits in the European Union. (LS)
