Arrears to the general consolidated budget grew by 5.46% in March 2022
compared to the previous month, to RON 175.4 million, from RON 166.32
million, according to data published on the Finance Ministry (MF)’s
website. Arrears over 90 days increased by 23.8%, from RON 51.7 million
to RON 64 million, while arrears exceeding 120 days decreased by 1.46%,
from RON 61.7 million in February to RON 60.8 million in March 2022. On
the other hand, arrears of over 360 days were down 4.16%, from RON 52.9
million to RON 50.7 million.
Senate President Florin Cîțu stated on Monday that Romania could
achieve 4.5% economic growth with the right measures, which the
population had not seen yet. As to the social measures announced by the
Government, such as vouchers for the population, he said that listening
to those making the estimates did not help the population in any way,
as economy would shrink.
The net assets of local open-end investment funds stood at about RON
19.6 billion in March, down by 7% against the previous month, according
to a report issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). Net
assets corresponding to all categories of local investment funds
decreased at the end of March 2022 compared to February 2022. The 9%
decline of net assets of local open-end bond and fixed-income
instrument funds stood out in the third month of the year, according to
data published by the Fund Managers Association (AAF), cited in the ASF
report.
The banking system in Romania is more solid than ever, according to CEC
Bank CEO Bogdan Neacșu. As a bank, CEC Bank members seek to encourage
entrepreneurs to take additional risks, but in a prudent manner, where
segments prove to be reliable, Bogdan Neacșu added. He also pointed out
that Romania’s economy had been showing a lot of resilience and
continuous adaptation over the past two years.
BCR, the second biggest bank on the local market asset-wise,
anticipates a further increase in the key rate during this week’s
meeting of NBR’s Board of Directors, to 4%, from the current level of
3%, given the high inflation, but also the recent decisions of central
banks in Poland and the Czech Republic and the fact that NBR Board’s
next meeting will only be in July. The latest increase in the monetary
policy interest rate was operated by NBR in April, from 2.5% to 3%.
The Ministry of Finance borrowed RON 5.3 billion from the domestic
market, from banks and the population in April 2022 and plans to borrow
RON 2.73 billion in May, including additional sessions of
non-competitive offers. Even though the budget had been adopted at the
beginning of the year and the monthly plan in April was substantially
reduced compared to other months (RON 3.4 billion), which gave
visibility to banks, RON-denominated loans from banks were extremely
weak, only RON 2 billion having been attracted in April.
Ingka Group, which owns 90% of IKEA furniture stores worldwide, will
invest EUR 3 billion in new and existing stores by 2023. Most of the
money will be allocated to modify stores located outside cities, in
order to double the number of e-commerce distribution centres. This
spending will also focus on "blue-box stores" in Romania, China and
India, as well as new stores in cities and on planning studios in
Canada, Denmark, Italy, India, the United States and other countries.
Online therapy platform Hedepy attracted a EUR 1.2 million investment
in April which it will use to expand its services in Greece, Hungary
and Ukraine and streamline and develop the technology behind the
platform, according to a press release. Both existing investors and new
partners, including Purple Ventures, Nation 1 and RSJ, participated in
the initial investment round. The company’s value rapidly grew to EUR
10 million.
Nordis Group, the biggest developer of luxury hotel and residential
complexes in Romania, will finalize the first phase of the Nordis City
hotel and residential complex in Mamaia seaside resort, following a EUR
144 million investment, according to Florin Poștoacă, Nordis Group
sales manager. Out of a total of eight buildings that are part of the
Nordis City project, four are soon to be completed: two buildings where
the hotel will operate and two residential buildings. It will be the
largest development on the Romanian seaside.
Save Romania Union (USR) has initiated a draft law on the
implementation of Nutri-Score labels for food products, in order to
inform consumers, in a simplified form, about the nutritional qualities
of food. There are 5 colours, from dark green (indicating products with
the highest nutritional quality) to dark orange (for products with
lower nutritional quality), and 5 letters, from A to E. The draft law,
initiated by Adrian Wiener, USR MP and a physician, is also known as
the "Food Traffic Light" and is successfully used in several European
countries, according to the initiator.
On Monday, President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the Law approving
Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 73/2020 on the Special
Telecommunications Service (STS)’s designation as an integrator of
critical communications services for public authorities in charge of
managing emergency situations. The normative act regulates the
aforementioned public authorities’ access to critical communications
services, in addition to access to special telecommunications services,
during emergency situations, in order to ensure efficient unitary
management.
The Government has approved two measures included in the "Support for
Romania" program. Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă stated, during
the Government meeting on Monday, that three million people would
benefit from vouchers, once every two months. The measure involves
about RON 3.1 billion spending, half of this amount being covered from
European funds. The Prime Minister also presented some details about
the second Government Emergency Ordinance to be approved by the
Government, through which a second tranche of RON 3.5 billion – from EU
funds as well - is allocated for investment projects.
One in three EU countries oppose launching a procedure promoted by the
European Parliament to change the bloc’s treaties, according to a joint
document seen Monday (9 May) by journalists. It was distributed on the
day that the European Parliament in Strasbourg hosted a closing
ceremony for the Conference on the Future of Europe, a consultation of
hundreds of EU citizens on ways the bloc could respond better to public
expectations. The consultation resulted in 49 proposals containing more
than 300 recommendations essentially calling for the EU to become more
of federal superstate with more powers and streamlined decision-making.
The decrease in Romanians’ purchasing power was reflected in the
amounts allocated for this year’s Easter holidays. About 37% of
participants in the latest EY survey said they had experienced at least
10-20% increases in this year’s shopping expenses, while 18% of
respondents said they had even spent 30% more this year. Moreover, a
fairly significant share of participants, 22%, said that the amounts
spent this year had been comparable to those spent last year.
Romania urgently needs more than 50,000 nurses to meet the health
challenges of the coming years caused by the ageing population and the
sharp deterioration in the health of vulnerable groups, especially
children and the elderly, according to an analysis made by Frames
consultancy firm. Citing data provided by the National Institute of
Statistics, the company shows that Romania’s elderly population has
outnumbered the young population aged up to 14 by more than 20%, and
the outlook for the following years indicates a worsening of this
phenomenon.
On Sunday, the National Council of Students issued a press release on
the adoption, by the Romanian Government, of the 2022-2025 Convergence
Program, strongly condemning the way in which the Romanian Government
intends to support the development of the education system and calling
for a revision of the forecast document and of budget policies, so that
the percentage allocated from GDP should grow to at least 4.7%, thus
bringing Romania to the European Union average. The institution
recalled that only 2.28% of GDP had been allocated to this sector, the
lowest allocation of the past few years.