The Ministry of Finance is to launch new issues of government securities for the population exclusively through the Tezaur and Fidelis programs on Thursday, 1 September 2022. The annual interest rates offered are 7.75% for the one-year maturity and 7.90% for the two-year maturity. The government bonds are issued in dematerialized form, have a nominal value of RON 1 and the annual interest is paid on the dates set out in the issue prospectus.
Eurozone inflation has reached a record high level of 9.1%, intensifying fears that soaring prices are becoming embedded in the economy and bolstering calls for the European Central Bank to raise interest rates more aggressively next week, the Financial Times reports. The flash estimate of consumer price growth published by Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics bureau, on Wednesday was up from 8.9% in July, which was itself the highest level in the 23-year history of the euro. It was also higher than the 9% expected by economists polled by Reuters.
The Ministry of Finance (MF) plans to borrow RON 4.1 billion from commercial banks in September 2022, which RON 525 million through additional non-competitive bidding sessions, related to bond auctions, may add to. The total amount of RON 4.625 billion is RON 960 billion below the level planned in August, of RON 5.585 billion, and will be used to refinance public debt and to finance the state budget deficit.
The number of companies with foreign capital newly established in Romania grew by 33% in the first seven months of 2022, compared to the similar period of 2021, to 4,129 units, according to data centralized by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC). The 4,129 new companies had a total subscribed share capital of USD 22.403 million, 15.2% lower than the one of companies registered in January-July 2021, of USD 26.413 million.
The balance of loans granted by UniCredit Bank in Romania grew to EUR 7.2 billion at the end of H1 of 2022, 18% above the level recorded in the first six months of 2021, according to financial results announced by the Italian group in Milan. The revenues of the Romanian bank with Italian capital also increased amid the advance of lending and the rising interest rates.
Raiffeisen Bank listed its first sustainable bonds issue on Bucharest Stock Exchange, worth RON 500.85 million, with five-year maturity and a fixed annual interest rate of 8.92%, on Wednesday, 31 August 2022. The bonds, traded on the regulated market of BSE under the stock exchange symbol RBRO27A, represent the fifth bonds issue tradable on the stock exchange. The value of all the five bond issues by Raiffeisen Bank exceeds RON 3 billion.
Banca Românească (BROM) has obtained the accreditation from the Authority for Romania’s Digitalization for remote banking products accessing with video identification, via the www.e-bancamea.ro platform. Clients can access online a complex package of products and services: current account in RON, premium debit card (Mastercard Gold), SMS Alert service and Internet Banking, gathered under the name eSential Package.
Swedish company OX2, the largest independent wind projects operator in Europe, is to start works on one of its first local investments, a wind farm in Galati, valued at EUR 120 million. The works are carried out through the project company Green Breeze, owned by OX2 in its entirety, according to Confidas data. The project will be developed on the territory of three communes in Galati County, namely Frumusița, Cuca and Smârdan. According to public data, the capacity of the project will be 99.2 MW.
eMAG Group is consolidating its management team in Hungary by appointing Daniel Spiridon as CEO, effective 1 September. Mr. Spiridon was previously involved in closing the eMAG merger with Extreme Digital, completed in the spring of 2022. eMAG plans to invest RON 785 million over the next two years for international expansion, including for a new warehouse in Dunaharaszti, near Budapest. This project involves a EUR 100 million investment to be finalized at the beginning of 2023.
Bucharest City Hall has announced that a draft resolution targeting the rehabilitation and restoration of Carol I Park, a historic monument, was approved by the General Council of Bucharest Municipality on Wednesday, 31 August. The investment will cost over RON 47.5 million and is expected to be finalized in three years. The works will consist in revitalizing and restoring the dendrological fund and green spaces, in rehabilitating paths, bridges and stairs inside the park, as well as in reinforcing the lake shores and in rehabilitating the pier.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă announced, during the Government meeting on Wednesday, that he was to receive the winter plan from the Ministry of Energy during the day, and that the conclusions of the analysis regarding the amendments to the Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) on the compensation of energy prices would be discussed in the Ministerial Committee on Thursday, 1 September. The head of the Executive indicated that he was convinced the Minister of Energy had completed all the steps in the preparation of this winter plan.
On Wednesday, 31 August, the Government adopted an Ordinance amending and completing Law no. 207/2015 regarding the Fiscal Procedure Code, which introduces new regulations to simplify and improve tax procedure legislation and adapts the latter to international developments, recommendations and best practices promoted by the OECD. According to Government spokesman Dan Cărbunaru, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) will publish on its website the list of taxpayers, legal entities, that have declared and paid their tax liabilities on time and have not accumulated any outstanding obligations.
The Alliance for Romanians Unity (AUR) has urged Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă to withdraw the draft education laws from the legislative process and to make public the names of the authors of these laws. The leader of AUR senators Claudiu Târziu has stated that "national education needs reform, but not in the sense of destroying it permanently, but with a view to returning to a solid and highly-performing general and specialized education system".
On Wednesday, 31 August, the Senate’s Legal Affairs Committee issued a favorable report on the amendments to the law on the protection of whistleblowers acting in the public interest, re-analyzed upon President Klaus Iohannis’s request. The law had been initiated by the Government, adopted by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, verified by the Constitutional Court of Romania and sent back to Parliament for re-analysis following the President’s request. The normative act establishes the general framework for the protection of persons reporting violations of laws in force that have occurred or are likely to occur within authorities, public institutions, other legal entities governed by public law, as well as within legal entities governed by private law.
The European Commission approved the first package of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plans on Wednesday (31 August) after months of back and forth between the EU executive and member states. The first seven countries to win the Commission’s seal of approval include Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, and more are hot on their heels, according to EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. Through these plans, member states set out an individualized action plan of how they intend to meet the nine objectives of the new EUR 270 billion reform, which will enter into force on 1 January 2023.
Romanians will spend about RON 2,043 for the start of the school year in 2022, 51% more than in 2021, on clothing, footwear, school supplies and textbooks, according to market research company iSense Solutions. The data made available by the company indicate that the average amount students will receive from their parents for the five days per week during which they go to school is RON 61, meaning about RON 12 per day.