European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit has
warned of a rise in so-called energy poverty in the European Union this
winter due to the sharp rise in energy prices. He told Agerpres press
agency that millions of people in the entire community bloc were
affected by poverty, and the number of people unable to heat their
homes was expected to rise in the following period. While the European
Commission can help EU countries to limit the impact of the high energy
price on the public, it is primarily up to national governments to take
action, according to Commissioner Schmit.
On Friday, 15 October, Moody’s rating agency improved Romania’s outlook
from negative to stable, based on the solid economic growth prospects,
which will rely on the dynamic private sector and the use of Next
Generation EU funds, and the existence of an excessive deficit
procedure which is expected to act as a key policy anchor of a
consistent and sustained fiscal consolidation strategy. The agency
underlined Romania’s strong growth potential and expectation of a
gradual improvement in the fiscal metrics, but also the policy
inconsistency resulting from unstable government coalitions.
A high degree of uncertainty is associated with the outlook for the
absorption of EU funds allocated to Romania via the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, as well as of those under the new Multiannual
Financial Framework 2021-2027, according to the members of NBR’s Board
of Directors, who referred to the approval, by the European Commission,
of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, but also to the steps
that still needed to be completed ahead of the commitment of funds, as
well as to Romania’s institutional capacity and track record in that
respect, according to the minute of the monetary policy meeting of
NBR’s Board of Directors on 5 October, published on Friday. During the
meeting, the Board discussed and adopted the monetary policy decision,
based on the data and analyses on current and future macroeconomic,
financial and monetary developments.
The National Bank of Romania (NBR) indirectly warned about the
Government’s fiscal policy stance, which further deteriorates the
situation of public finances, as Romania is faced with a large budget
deficit, which will be very difficult to reduce, given the large volume
of permanent budget expenditures, according to the minutes of the
monetary policy meeting on 5 October. Moreover, the surge in energy
prices, hence the increase in utility bills, will generate new
problems, especially considering that those bills need to be
compensated.
Ten-year government securities had a 5.08% reference rate on the
secondary market on Friday, 15 October, slightly lower than last
Thursday, when they had stood at 5.09%. According to NBR data, 115
RON-denominated securities, worth RON 3.1 billion, and 6
euro-denominated securities, with a total value of EUR 13 million, were
traded on Thursday, 14 October. Moreover, interest rate on six-month
government bonds grew at a faster rate, to 3.19%, from 2.90% on
Thursday, while interest rate for bonds with three-year maturity rose
to 4.02%, from 3.84%.
City Insurance, the leader of the RCA segment and of the insurance
market, which lost its operating permit and whose bankruptcy has been
requested by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), with the launch
of the corresponding procedure by the end of September 2021, had
recorded RON 1.04 billion underwritten premiums on the RCA segment by
the end of H1/2021, up by 27.7% compared to H1/2020, according to ASF’s
report. City Insurance thus managed to exceed a 46% market share in
H1/2021.
The number of active mandatory home insurance (PAD) policies grew by
3.88% in September 2021, to approximately 1.83 million, compared to
1.76 million active PAD policies on 30 September 2020, according to the
statistics published by the Natural Disaster Insurance Pool (PAID), the
company that issues this type of insurance. There were 1.75 million
active policies on 31 December 2020. According to PAID, at the end of
September, 74.9% of the active policies at national level were
concluded in urban areas and 25.1% in rural areas.
AROBS Transilvania Software, a Romanian IT company controlled by
entrepreneur Voicu Oprean from Cluj, closed a private placement of
shares on Friday, 15 October, and attracted RON 75 million from
investors. The company put up for sale a number of 54.7 million shares,
and investors had submitted subscription orders for 154.5 million
shares by Friday, at 17:00, which results in a 2.82-fold
over-subscription.
Romanian entrepreneur Mădălin Tomescu launched, following an
approximately RON 1 million net investment, Kuziini, the only
custom-made kitchen concept store which functions 100% digitally. The
founder of Kuziini has over 20 years of business experience in the
furniture industry, where he has developed several businesses in the
residential and commercial furniture production segment, targeting
hotels, stores, company headquarters and universities. The Kuziini
concept store operates without staff, and customer access is ensured
through a face recognition system installed at the entrance.
Educating and encouraging entrepreneurial skills from an early age has
become an essential component in preparing children for adult life and
the development of society. After 18 years in managing the insolvencies
of Romanian companies, Nicoleta Munteanu, founder and main shareholder
of Euroinsol, launched in 2020 Kids in Business, an entrepreneurial
education project which has so far been accessed by over 1,500 primary
school pupils from private and public schools this year. The initial
investment in the project amounted to about EUR 200,000 and was
allocated for the development of entrepreneurship education programs.
On Thursday, 14 April, several senators and deputies submitted to
Parliament a draft law establishing certain measures in the healthcare
sector, during the state of alert period, for public and private units’
personnel. Thus, according to a press release issued by the Health
Ministry, the staff within healthcare units with public and private
beds will have the obligation to present an EU COVID-19 digital
certificate in order to carry out their activity; otherwise the
employees will have the obligation to pay for tests to detect
coronavirus infection.
Romania’s energy watchdog ANRE fined several natural gas suppliers for
increasing the price of gas delivered under fixed-rate contracts. The
government recently liberalized the country’s electricity and natural
gas markets for households. Suppliers started providing a wide range of
offers, but energy prices have since risen abruptly on global markets.
The Romanian units of Engie and E.ON, plus two other firms, were fined
because customers complained that the suppliers notified them of gas
price increases during the contractual period although they had signed
fixed-rate contracts.
Cioloș government proposed, in the governing program made public on
Sunday, 17 October, several specific measures to resolve the current
situation in the healthcare system, but also to stimulate vaccination
against Covid-19. Access to events and stores would be made conditional
on the green certificate and employees who refuse to present it would
be dismissed. Moreover, Cioloș government wants to impose a two-week
holiday for students, which will be recovered next summer by extending
the school year - all to stop the wave of coronavirus infections.
The total number of pensioners in the public pension system was of
4,882,192 people at the end of June 2021, down by 61,268 people
compared to the corresponding period of 2020 and by 28,711 people
against the end of December 2020, according to statistics from the
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. 95.13% of the total were state
social security pensioners (4,652,346 persons) and 4.87% were
agricultural pensioners (229,846 persons). The number of state social
security pensioners was lower by 24,488 people on 30 June 2021
year-on-year, and the average pension was RON 219 higher.