Summary

Macroeconomic

Romania has paid EUR 27 billion interest in the past decade

Romania has paid EUR 27 billion interest in the past decade, equivalent to sums made available through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). In 2023, if the trend recorded in January continues, more than EUR 7 billion will go to interest on public debt, which has exceeded EUR 130 billion (RON 650 billion). Thus, as a comparison, the state would pay about EUR 35 billion interest alone during the period 2013-2023, as much as Romania’s GDP in 1990.

Leonardo Badea, NBR, spoke about economic development

According to Leonardo Badea, NBR, it is obvious that society is following the growing complexity of phenomena and processes, which directly affects the development models of economy, and its sustainable development is an increasingly urgent need that can no longer be postponed or kept at the bottom of the priority list. The idea of economic development under any conditions had existed for a long period of time, but this idea is no longer an optimal choice given the current situation where society needs cooperation as much as competition.

Financial

Corporate lending had a weak end of year in 2022

Corporate lending had a weak end of year in 2022, the sustained advance of euro-denominated loans having only partially compensated for the slowdown in the growth rate of new RON-denominated corporate loans. In Q4/2022, the stock of RON-denominated loans fell by 5.2%, while the stock of euro-denominated loans rose by 7.8%, according to a new report by the National Bank of Romania (NBR) detailing the evolution of lending by economic branch. The report also indicates that the stock of bank loans fell in almost all economic sectors in the last three months of 2022.

Raiffeisen Bank has updated its offer for RON- and foreign currency-denominated deposits

Raiffeisen Bank has updated its offer for RON and foreign currency (EUR, USD)-denominated household deposits. It has thus increased interest rates on three-month euro-denominated deposits to 2% per year and, depending on the period, up to 7.5% on RON-denominated deposits and up to 3.25% per year on USD-denominated deposits, the bank has announced. Moreover, multiple maturity options are available, in order to give all clients the possibility to create an emergency fund and diversify their savings portfolio, according to a press release.

Investment

"Avram Iancu" International Airport in Cluj has accessed a RON 17.2 million European project

"Avram Iancu" International Airport in Cluj has accessed a European project worth RON 17.2 million (EUR 3.5 million), of which RON 12.3 million (EUR 2.5 million) represents the European Union’s co-financing through the 2014-2020 Large Infrastructure Operational Programme, for carrying out new infrastructure works. The project consists in the construction of a properly equipped Fire Prevention and Extinction (PSI) unit to ensure the parking and maintenance of fire engines, as well as the provision of utilities for the airport’s Private Emergency Service staff.

Someș Water Company is carrying out an over RON 124 million investment

Someș Water Company, subordinated to Cluj County Council, is carrying out an over RON 124 million investment, supported though the Large Infrastructure Operational Program (POIM). The contract targets the replacement of the current water supply networks with ductile cast iron and high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes and works must be finalized within maximum 15 months, according to a press release issued by Cluj County Council. The total utilities infrastructure under the Water Company’s administration measured more than 4,100 km of water mains and networks at the end of 2022.

Prime Minister Ciucă met with representatives of Mass Global Energy Rom

Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă met at Victoria Palace with representatives of Mass Global Energy Rom, the company that acquired Mintia Thermal Power Plant. An over EUR 1 billion investment plan meant to turn the thermal power plant into the largest and most efficient gas-fired power generation capacity in the European Union was presented during the meeting. This will be achieved by using the most modern technologies, which will allow, in accordance with the European taxonomy, the production of at least 1,500 MW.

Legislative

Those who do not comply with public health rules will be sanctioned

The Ministry of Health has put up for public consultation a draft Government Decision amending and completing an earlier Decision that established the sanctioning of violations of public health norms. The draft normative act stipulates, among other things, fines for hospitals that fail to offer relatives the possibility to visit patients and access to data on the condition of hospitalized relatives, sanctions for doctors who do not comply with vaccination schedules, and for non-compliance with hygiene norms in pre-university educational establishments.

USR has submitted a draft law allowing students to more easily apply to university

Save Romania Union (USR) MP Diana Buzoianu and USR Senator Ștefan Pălărie have submitted a draft law to Parliament that would allow applying to any faculty through a digital platform at national level, administered by the Ministry of Education. USR has explained that the legislative proposal is a long-awaited step towards the digitalization of education and a helping hand for students who sometimes have to travel hundreds of kilometers to apply to universities in various university centers.

Alina Gorghiu, Florin Iordache and Sebastian Burduja are drawing up a new research law

Liberal (PNL) Alina Gorghiu, interim head of the Senate, announced on Monday that she had formed a working group in the Senate, together with the Legislative Council and the Ministry of Research, led by Sebastian Burduja, to draw up a new research law. She said she had also co-opted Florin Iordache (ex-PSD), the initiator of the famous Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 13 through which Grindeanu government had tried to help Liviu Dragnea avoid imprisonment. Alina Gorghiu and Florin Iordache have no links to research, while Sebastian Burduja only became familiar with the field after having been appointed Research Minister in Ciucă government.

European News

Women have held just 12% of top jobs at 33 of the biggest multilateral institutions since 1945

Women have held just 12% of the top jobs at 33 of the biggest multilateral institutions since 1945, and more than a third of those bodies, including all four large development banks, have never been led by a woman, a new study released on Monday (6 March) shows. Five of the bodies have only had a woman president once in their history, and that includes the current head of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, according to the report prepared by GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion, an advocacy group made up of 62 current and former senior women leaders.

Social

Romania has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in EU

Romania has one of the highest youth unemployment rates among the European Union member states, according to Eurostat data. Romania thus ranks fourth in the community bloc, with a 22.2% unemployment rate among young people up to the age of 25, after Spain, Greece and Sweden and at the same level as Italy. Moreover, Eurostat has indicated that the consequences of two global crises, namely the financial and economic crisis of the late 2000s and the more recent crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, were visible in youth unemployment during the period 2009-2021.

Minister Marius Budăi spoke about the taxation of part-time contracts at minimum wage level

Minister Marius Budăi stated, during the debate on the simple motion filed against him, referring to the taxation of part-time contracts at the level of the minimum wage, that there are over 6,722,000 million employment contracts, of which 5.7 full-time ones and 1 million part-time ones. This is a record number in recent history, he added. The minister also pointed out that taxing part-time contracts at the minimum wage level, with the exceptions provided for by law, had led to a record number of full-time employment contracts, and higher revenues for the state budget, which would allow for higher wages and pensions.