Government debt grew to RON 550.34 billion at the end of August, up by
about RON 10 billion against the level recorded at the end of July,
according to data published by the Ministry of Finance. The government
debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 49.7% at the end of August, from 49.3%
at the end of July, according to data published by the Ministry of
Finance. The medium and long term debt stood at RON 530.865 billion and
the short term one amounted to RON 19.474 billion. Government
securities represented most of this debt, namely RON 469 billion, while
loans accounted for RON 73.109 billion.
Wholesale trade turnover grew by 17.4% in the first seven months of
this year, compared to the similar period of 2020, following the
advance recorded by trade in other products (22.4%) and in consumer
goods, other than food products (21.9%), according to data published by
the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Positive results were also
recorded by the wholesale trade in raw agricultural products and live
animals (+ 18.7%), non-specialized wholesale trade (+ 17.4%), wholesale
trade in other machinery, equipment and supplies (+ 17.4%), wholesale
trade in food, beverages and tobacco (+ 11.5%), wholesale trade in
information and telecommunications equipment (+ 9.1%) and by
intermediation activities in wholesale trade (+ 8.6%) during the period
1 January – 31 July 2021.
Romania’s ten-year financing cost (RO10Y), the barometer for the cost
of money in economy, rose sharply last week amid the surprising
inflation figures published by the National Institute of Statistics
(INS) and the political crisis, and reached a new record high of the
past two and a half years, of 4.98%. Long-term financing costs have
resumed growth since the beginning of the political crisis, after the
ten-year yield had stood at 3.73% on 16 August. The advance of
financing costs, on the entire curve of sovereign returns, after the
publishing of the inflation report, is, on average, of +29 basis
points, according to BT Asset Management analysts. They indicate that
interest rates on the interbank market have also grown recently, the
tree-month ROBOR index having reached 2.15%, compared to 1.6% at the
end of September.
UniCredit Bank continues the digitalization of services in its
portfolio and announces the expansion of the Mobile Banking
application’s functionalities with a module offering individual clients
who have a credit or debit card from UniCredit access to a dedicated
cashback program. The program called ShopSmart was developed in
partnership with Dateio, a company which specializes in the management
of one of the largest card-linked marketing platforms in the region,
and enrolls about 100 cashback offers from online and offline
merchants.
Banks in Romania, some of them controlled by foreign financial groups
from countries such as Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and
Greece, have received the National Bank of Romania (NBR)’s approval to
pay dividends to shareholders after the nearly two-year break imposed
by the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, the year
when the pandemic started, some of the large banks that had been
preparing to grant dividends from the profits obtained in 2019 changed
their minds and reversed their decision, upon NBR’s recommendation,
given the negative impact of the coronavirus crisis on economy as well,
and decided to use a significant part of the profits to consolidate
their own capital and for investments.
CEC Bank has launched a mortgage loan with fixed interest rate in the
first 5 years, of 4.7% per year for clients who do not cash their
salaries into an account opened at the bank and of 4.5% for those who
cash their incomes through the bank. Moreover, during the period
October 2021 – April 2022, CEC Bank has a promotional offer through
which fixed interest mortgage loans have zero maintenance fee
throughout the entire crediting period, which means a 0.48% reduction
of total annual costs.
ClusterPower officially inaugurated the nearly EUR 40 million
investment from Mischii, Dolj County, in a technology park where five
data centers and a power generation unit will be built to ensure the
consumption of the entire campus. The visit to the construction site
was preceded by a company presentation event that took place at the
University of Craiova, which academia, public authorities and business
sector’s representatives, both from the country and from abroad,
participated in.
Trans Sped, a company that provides digital transformation services,
will participate in the development of the Quantec National Quantum
Communications Reference Center from Măgurele research platform, a EUR
1.5 million project targeting the development of emerging technologies
in the field of quantum communications. Trans Sped is one of the
companies that are part of the consortium that will carry out the
project, led by the Institute of Space Science (ISS).
Carmistin Group, a company activating on the Romanian agribusiness
market, has signed a RON 636 million syndicated loan, having thus
modified and increased the existing credit facilities by RON 209
million, in order to support the group’s new investment strategy. The
financing was coordinated by Banca Comercială Română (a member of Erste
Group), as a mandated lead arranger, Bookrunner, as a documentation,
guarantees and payments agent, together with CEC Bank, as a mandated
lead arranger, and by other participating banks, namely OTP Bank,
Intesa Sanpaolo Bank and Eximbank.
The new Emergency Ordinance (OUG) no. 117 of 4 October will enter into
force on 20 October. It establishes RON 5,000 - RON 10,000 fines for
employers who delay the payment of their employees’ salaries by more
than a month, a measure that can significantly unbalance the labor
market (under the current circumstances, when there is an acute
pressure on the labor available in the market) and can trigger a wave
of insolvencies and bankruptcies in the business sector, ONV LAW firm
emphasizes.
The Senate’s reunited committees have adopted several amendments to the
Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) on energy price compensation.
Senators have thus turned into law the capping of prices for household
consumers, a support scheme for SMEs, the overtaxing of energy
producers’ profits and the limiting of suppliers’ profits. Basically,
the state budget will now bear 33% of the gas and electricity price, up
from 25% in the previous form of the OUG regarding the compensation.
Twenty European Union countries have called on the European Commission
to step up action on the crisis-ridden pig meat sector, struggling with
disease and the COVID-19 pandemic, with farmers’ associations calling
it an "existential threat to all farms". In a note submitted by Belgium
to the Council of Agricultural ministers during a meeting in Luxembourg
on Monday and Tuesday (11-12 October), the countries urged the
Commission to clear the way for exceptional market measures in the pig
meat sector.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that Romania could only
reach a 40% anti-Covid-19 vaccination rate in seven months’ time, and
would need 31 months to vaccinate 70% of its population if the current
immunization pace and vaccination strategies are maintained. The
conclusion was announced after WHO representatives had discussed with
the president of the National Committee for the Coordination of
Anti-Covid-19 Vaccination Activities, physician Valeriu Gheorghiță,
with the representatives of the National Public Health Institute, and
with Health Ministry officials, through videoconference, on Monday, 18
October.
On Monday, 18 October, the National Committee for Emergency Situations
(CNSU) approved, through decision no. 89/2021, the international
assistance offer through which the Republic of Moldova will provide a
medical team to support hospitals in Romania treating COVID-19
patients. The Republic of Moldova will provide doctors, nurses and
Emergency Mobile Service (SMURD) teams. According to the aforementioned
decision, the distribution of medical teams and medical personnel, as
well as the selection of the units where they will carry out their
activity will be done through an Order of the action commander - the
head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat.