Romania continues to rank
last in the European Union in terms of waste collection, recycling and
recovery. In this context, the Foreign Investors Council (FIC), the
organization that reunites the largest Romanian companies with foreign
capital, has identified 18 difficulties in the application of waste
legislation and has come up with several proposed solutions. FIC Board
members, Paris Nikolopoulos and Mircea Moga coordinate FIC activities
related to environmental protection.
The European Commission estimates that Romania will record 1.8%
economic growth next year and a 2.2% advance in 2024, while inflation
is expected to peak at the end of 2022, and to remain still high in
2023, before declining in 2024, according to the EC’s Autumn 2022
Economic Forecast. After a strong 2022, Romania’s economy is set to
slow down with real GDP growth at around 2% in the coming years due to
higher inflation, tighter financial conditions and the fallout from
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Romania’s total external debt - public and private - grew by EUR 4.82
billion during the interval January-September 2022, to EUR 141.4
billion, of which general government debt amounted to EUR 55.2 billion,
down by EUR 3.5 billion against the level recorded on 31 December 2021,
according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (NBR) on
Monday. NBR data show that long-term external debt stood at EUR 94.1
billion on 30 September (66.6% of total external debt), down by 3.5%
against 31 December 2021, while short-term external debt amounted to
EUR 47.2 billion (33.4% of total external debt), up by 21.1% compared
to the level on 31 December 2021.
The future evolution of the annual inflation rate essentially depends
on decisions regarding the duration and configuration of the price
capping scheme for electricity and natural gas, according to a report
published by the National Bank of Romania (NBR) on Monday. The National
Bank expects the annual CPI inflation rate to slightly grow until the
end of the year, to reach a peak of 16.3% in Q4/2022, and to
subsequently decrease on the assumption that both supply shocks and
aggregate demand pressures will gradually dissipate.
New orders in the manufacturing industry grew by nearly 20% in the
first nine months of 2022 compared to the same period of last year,
according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics
(INS) on Monday, 14 November. According to the official statistics,
during the period 1 January - 30 September 2022, increases were
recorded in the intermediate goods industry (+23.1%), the durable goods
industry (+21.1%), the consumer goods industry (+18.6%) and the capital
goods industry (+17.1%).
Romania’s current account deficit grew to EUR 20.1 billion in the first
nine months of the year, up by 59% year-on-year, as international trade
in goods generated a deficit of EUR 23.7 billion, up by EUR 7.3
billion, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania
(NBR) on Monday. Moreover, the surplus on the balance of services
increased by EUR 2.1 billion, to EUR 8.6 billion, after the transports
sector reported a EUR 3.9 billion surplus, and telecommunications,
computer and information services recorded a EUR 3.7 billion surplus,
up by EUR 1 billion.
The Ministry of Finance (MF) borrowed RON 479.9 million from banks on
Monday, 14 November through a benchmark government bonds issue with
72-month residual maturity, at an average yield of 8.31% per year,
according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (NBR). The
nominal value of the issue was RON 400 million and the banks subscribed
RON 557.9 million.
Banca Comercială Română aims to contribute to the development of female
entrepreneurship and joins Professional Women’s Network Romania, in
supporting the "Trusa pentru Antreprenoare" (Female Entrepreneurs’ Kit)
education and mentoring program, according to a press release. The new
edition will take place during the period 25 November 2022 - 7 July
2023 and will include 15 workshops and over 60 hours of
entrepreneurship education and networking.
French retailer Decathlon has opened a new store in Romania, in Alba
Iulia, the first inauguration this year. The network has reached 29
units following this investment. The store in Alba Iulia has about
1,040 square meters and sells over 2,500 items and pieces of equipment
for more than 80 sports. Decathlon also has a logistics hub for Eastern
Europe in Romania, from where it supplies products to various countries
such as Bulgaria, Ukraine and Greece.
OMV Petrom has started the production of AdBlue, a product that reduces
polluting emissions from diesel engines, which will be initially sold
in OMV and Petrom gas stations, and in other networks starting from
next year. AdBlue consists of about 1/3 urea and 2/3 demineralized
water. The new production unit is located in the south of Bucharest and
the investments needed for the project amounted to about EUR 800,000.
On Monday, 14 November, Minister of Development, Public Works and
Administration Cseke Attila signed 25 new contracts financed through
Component 10 - Local Fund of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan
(PNRR). The contracts signed between local public authorities and the
Ministry of Development target the purchase of non-polluting transport
vehicles and charging stations, and their total value amounts to RON
125,162,305.76, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of
Development, Public Works and Administration.
On Sunday evening, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Marcel Ciolacu spoke on Antena 3 TV station about special pensions. He
said that talks on the topic of special pensions would end on 31
December 2022 through a draft law initiated by the Ministry of Labor,
approved by the Government and sent to Parliament for adoption,
pointing out that the pension reform assumed through the National
Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) would not be carried out through an
emergency ordinance.
The Home Affairs Ministry has drawn up a draft government decision
which proposes declassifying some of the documents classified by the
state organisms during the pre-1990 dictatorial regimes, but the
solution has generated discontent among some historians and
researchers. Since 26 May 2022, access to documents held by the
National Archives of Romania (ANR) has been severely restricted, under
the pretext of protecting so-called "classified information" and
following recommendations by the Home Affairs Ministry’s Directorate
General for Internal Security (DGPI).
The Senate has adopted, as the decision-making body, the draft law
approving the financing contract for the Regional Emergency Hospital in
Craiova signed between Romania and the European Investment Bank. The
new regional emergency hospital in Craiova will become a tertiary level
center for the network of hospitals in the south-west region of Romania
and will treat critical patients and cases requiring high-level
technology and expertise. According to the draft law, the new regional
emergency hospital will have more than 800 beds, will be a seven-storey
building complex and will replace Craiova County Emergency Clinical
Hospital.
The European biofuels industry has hit back at NGO allegations that the
use of soy oil is driving deforestation in the Amazon, emphasizing that
soy imported into the bloc can legally not come from deforested land. A
new report by the environmental NGO Transport & Environment
(T&E) found that the increase in demand for soy, a crop used to
produce biodiesel, is encouraging the conversion of natural land into
industrial farmland in Brazil.
More than 25% of young people aged 15-29 in Romania are neither in
employment nor in education or training, according to Eurostat data for
Q2/2022. Romania ranks second in the European Union in terms of share
of young people who are not enrolled in any form of education and are
not working, with 25.7%. In Italy, the percentage is almost 40%. At EU
level, about 1 in 4 (almost 25%) of young people aged 20-34 is neither
in employment nor in education or training.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă stated on Monday, during a meeting with a
delegation of the National Confederation for Female Entrepreneurship
(CONAF), led by Cristina Chiriac, at Victoria Palace that reducing
school dropout was a strategic objective assumed by the Government and
which required an integrated approach from several perspectives. The
Government is also implementing the National Program "Out of Care for
Children", which has been allocated over EUR 6 million from the state
budget, for children’s psychological and emotional support and safety.
Moreover, the RO-Alert system for missing children has rescued
thousands of children from difficult situations since its launch.