Mehedinti (14.5 per cent), Vaslui (13.5 per cent), Alba (13.4 per cent) are the counties with the highest level of unemployment, while Bucharest (2.4 per cent), Ilfov (2.6 per cent) and Timis (4.4 per cent) register the lowest rates, reads a press release of the National Employment Agency.

The total number of unemployed exceeds 740,000 persons, of whom the men are more than half.

The unemployment rate exceeded the average of 8.1 per cent, a level comparable only with the year 2003, when the unemployed had risen to 8.6 per cent. In January were registered 31,599 more unemployed (740,982 persons) than in December 2009. According to ANOFM press release, out of the 740,000 unemployed, 605,371 come from the private environment, being 4.5 times more than those laid off by the state units.

According to the estimates of the IMF officials, the unemployment rate could rise this year to 10 per cent in Romania, but it is expected to drop in the second half of the year when the economic activities are resumed. The lowest unemployment rates are in Bucharest (2.4 per cent) and in the counties of Ilfov (2.6 per cent), Timis (4.4 per cent), Bihor (6.2 per cent), Cluj...

Public finance minister Sebastian Vladescu considers that Romania could shift, after the next evaluation, from a stand-by loan agreement to a “precautionary” arrangement with IMF, which would demonstrated that the Romanian economy steadily recovers. However, Vladescu believes that it is too early to say if this decision can be made soon. “It is too early to say if we shall change the arrangement after the next evaluation. Hopefully, we shall shift to a precautionary agreement, because this would mean that the global economy is recovering and the Romanian economy has recovered,” he declared, quoted by Mediafax.

A “precautionary stand-by” agreement differs from a “stand-by” agreement because the money amounts stipulated in the agreement may be used only in emergencies, although it establishes for the signatory country similar economic arrangements. BNR vice governor Cristian Popa was saying recently that it would not be impossible for Romania to attract less money than the total amount agreed through the funding agreements with IMF and EU. A new IMF mission will come to Bucharest at the end of April or the beginning of May to...

The new draft pension law was yesterday sanctioned by the PD-L National Standing Bureau (BPN) and will be presented in the government, PM Emil Boc announced in a televised press statement. He assured that the bill observes the principle of contribution, it eliminates special pensions and would secure a public pension to all Romanians at the end their professional life, according to HotNews.

Statistics show a total of 4,364 million workers and 4,742 million retired (not including people retired from agriculture) in November 2009. The ratio is 10 workers to 11 retired people.

Some of the decisions that have affected the budget are the massive wave of retirements between 1990 and 1998 used as a mask for unemployment generated by privatization, loans from the pension fund used to fill budget voids, too young retirement ages – in 1990, women retired at the age of 53 and men at the age of 58 - taking over people retired from bankrupt industries (cooperatives) to the public budget, in 1993, the introduction of exceptions and privileged to the pension law that, between 2003 and 2008, led to the emergence of pensions for special categories (members of Parliament,...

The USD continued its strong appreciation vs. EUR and other important currencies of the world. The investors have a growing appetite for the US currency and renounce the investments in raw materials: the price of oil falls. The heterogeneity of the EU economies “attacks” the stability of the EUR. “Romania is a EU member state and we should <> when the European currency is strong; but, considering that we have a national currency whose relation is chiefly with the EUR at least for now, the decline of the European currency, both as absolute value and in relation with the US, is generally favourable to us, less to the companies which make export,” said Victor Safta, manager of the branch from Romania of X-Trade Brokers, the biggest brokerage house in Central and East Europe.

The EUR reached the lowest level in the last 8 months vs. the US dollar, reaching USD 1.3585/EUR last Friday.

The evolution was dramatic especially in the last days of the past week, and “this was not due especially to some positive signal coming from the US, because the published indicators were contradictory,” X-Trade Brokers analysts say. ...

BNR lends RON 3 bn to commercial banks

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) yesterday did a repo operation injecting RON 3.09 bn into the inter-bank market at 7 per cent interest rate equal to the key-interest rate. Eight banks participated in the bid yesterday. The deposits are falling due in a week’s time. The central bank’s operation was carried out on the maturity date of the loans it had granted to commercial banks a week before, also via a repo operation.

Ilinca von Derenthall, new Bank Gutmann Director

Romania-born Ilinca von Derenthall ahs been appointed to the Board of Bank Gutmann Austria where she will be in charge of developing the bank’s business in Romania and new innovative product and service strategies, bank officials informed on Monday, according to Mediafax. An experienced banker and a certified financial analyst, von Derenthall, alongside Sepp Maier, will lead the International Private Banking Division of the organization.

New AAFB management

Raiffeisen Bank Chief-Economist Ionut Dumitru on Friday was elected as President of the Association of Financial and banking Analysts...

Romania took effective measures to correct its budget deficit, and the European Commission (EC) proposed to push back by one year, to 2012, the deadline for bringing the deficit under 3 pc of the GDP, the European executive announced on Monday.

“Romania has made a serious effort to limit the deterioration of its budget deficit and to preserve macroeconomic stability during the past year. “The worsening of the economic situation since the initial recommendations were made, justifies extending the deadline by one year. But the consolidation effort must continue, under the conditions attached to the financial assistance program, to make sure that the deficit is corrected by 2012’ said Joaquín Almunia, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner.

In July 2009, the EC Okayed a proposition of the Commission to start an excessive deficit procedure against Romania, based on a deficit higher than 3 pc of the GDP in 2008, and recommended the deficit to be corrected below 3 pc by 2011 at latest. The initial deadline for taking effective measures was January 7,...

The ‘Euro-leaf’ design is the new European Union’s organic logo created by a German student. The new EU organic logo will be obligatory on all pre-packaged organic products that have been produced in any of the EU member states and meet the necessary standards, Mediafax informs. The winning logo was the result of a pan-European contest open to art and design students. Nearly 3,500 logo submitted designs were examined by an internationally renowned jury, the EC announced by press release on Monday. The winning logo was designed by Dusan Milenkovic, a student from Germany, who gained 63 per cent of the overall vote for his design.

From July 1, 2010 the new EU organic logo will be obligatory on all pre-packaged organic products that have been produced in any of the EU member states and meet the necessary standards. It will be optional for imported products. Other private, regional or national logos will be allowed to appear alongside the EU label. The best three logos were uploaded on the competition website and subject to an online vote which ended on January 31, 2010. Their designers will receive prizes of EUR 6,000, EUR 3,000 and EUR 2,500 respectively....

Over EUR 4.2 bn EU funds for human resources are without a manager. HotNews.ro reports that Labour Minister Mihai Seitan has said that the legal interim term of the Director of the HR Development Operation Programme, Cristina Iova, had expired on February 5 and that the secretary of state who should be managing the field had not been appointed.

The minister said that a competition would nevertheless be held for the selection of a programme director. In the meantime, beneficiaries and consultants who have already submitted projects or whose projects are already receiving funding within the HR Development Programme keep complaining about system issues. About two weeks ago, over 100 non-profit organisations, employers’ organisations and trade unions wrote a public letter to the prime minister, where they were demanding measures ‘to curb bureaucracy in the evaluation of funding applications, signing of agreements and in securing a financial flow needed for the implementation of projects in progress’, as well as an urgent solution to the extremely serious situation in which management authorities were in terms of staffing....

National natural gas consumption last year dropped by 15 per cent from 15.5 bn cubic metres (165 m MWh) in 2008 to 13.2 bn cubic metres (140 M MWh), according to a report by the National Regulatory Authority in the Sector of Energy (ANRE) published yesterday. While consumption suffered at the level of the entire year, in December 2009 it was higher by 9 per cent than in December 2008. Consumption grew from 17.8 MWh in December 2008 to 19.4 M MWh in December 2009. In the same month imports also grew to 3 M MWh of gas, almost double compared to December 2008. Local production in December represented 85.17 per cent of consumption and imports 14.8 per cent. The biggest consumer in December was the electricity and heat producing sector (30 per cent of the gas supplied), followed by domestic consumers with a weight of 23.9 per cent. The chemical industry – another big consumer – had a weight of 15.7 per cent in the total quantity of natural gas supplied in December. The lowest import gas price in 2009 was in September – USD 269/1,000 cubic metres....

Avrig 35 and Cascade Group developers will invest over EUR 80 M in a shopping centre located in the Theodor Pallady Avenue, in District 3, Bucharest. The shopping centre will be opened at the end of 2011. The biggest part of the investment will be covered by own money as well as by money raised from foreign investment funds, the two developers told a press conference yesterday.

‘Banks are now experiencing difficulties and are no financing projects. We are negotiating with three investment funds, trying to raise funding, and we are also considering selling our project’ Alexander Hergan, CEO and one of the founders of Avrig 35.

The Pallady Shopping Center will include an Auchan hyper-market and a Decathlon unit. The entire project will be developed on an area of 10 hectares and will have 3,000 parking places. The Auchan network will open there the largest hypermarket in Eastern Europe, with a total area of 30,000 sq m, with an investment of EUR 35 M and a retail area of 20,000 sq m, according to Auchan’s General Manager for Romania Patrick Espasa.

Construction will begin in May-June. The old buildings in the area have been demolished....

The Vitantis Shopping Center shopping centre in December 2009 registered a 35 per cent sales rise compared to the previous months. However, compared to December 2008, sales had stagnated, according to a press release by Equest Investments. The shopping centre’s 2010 marketing budget is EUR 1 M, covering media partnership, events and promotion campaigns. In addition, EUR 300,000 will be paid for the renovation of the car park and replace traffic management systems in the Vitan-Barzesti Street to make both access into the shopping complex and local traffic more fluent. The 2010 strategy also recognizes the possibility of having a competitor in the area – Sun Plaza.

‘Given our experience with Grand Arena, traffic will probably drop by nearly 20-25 per cent in the first one and a half months, but we are prepared to act against the trend and regain our lost customers. Things will go back to normal after some time when it’s normal to be more curious about a new mall in Bucharest. We have prepared a number of events trying to reward our faithful customers’ said the Vitantis manager....

Encouraging news about the U.S. employment picture continued to spill over onto financial markets on Monday, lifting world stocks on hopes that a slip back into recession could be avoided. The mood continued despite a relatively gloomy outlook from Olivier Blanchard, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, who told France’s Le Figaro he expected weak growth in both the United States and Europe. Some investors, particularly in Asia, were catching up with Friday’s U.S. jobs data, which was not as bad as some had feared. The slowing of the U.S. economy has been one of the major factors holding investors back over recent months. MSCI’s all-country world stock index and its Thomson Reuters counterpart were up more than half a percent after a nearly 3.7 percent gains for the MSCI last week. Europe’s FTSEurofirst 300 gained around 0.3 percent while Japan’s Nikkei earlier closed up 2.05 percent. The latest corporate earnings season has been relatively strong in both the United States and Europe while merger and acquisition activity in August was the most robust for the month since 1999. U.S. markets were closed for the Labour Day holiday.

US President Obama was due to...

The incoming Minister of Finance, Gheorghe Ialomitianu, has made the announcement that people paying royalties and those working under civil agreements would not have to submit income statements and pay associated contributions. ‘People who get an income from royalties and those working under civil agreements do no longer have to submit the statement and make the payment themselves. The legislation will be changed and the money will be withheld at the source, meaning that the payer will have the duty to sent the contribution to the budget; it is the most efficient way to do it, I mean it is a faster and the least expensive method’, Ialomitianu said in his first interview in his new capacity with ‘Gandul’ daily. ‘The change will be operated also by an emergency ordinance, our deadline is to debate the changes in the Government and pass the changes on Wednesday’, the minister added. Gheorghe Ialomitianu said employers would be criminally liable if they do not make the payments. During the interview, the minister of finance was asked about who should withhold the contributions in the case of oriental music singers, for example, who make thousands of Euro every month from their...

A self-employed earner will pay the Romanian state at least 25.36 per cent of their income in accumulated social contributions. Given a regular Romanian employee pays social contributions equal to 16.5 per cent of their monthly pay and intellectual property rights will be as of January 1, 2011 subject to a tax of 25.36 per cent makes the intellectual property contract useless, according to ‘Adevarul’ daily newspaper.

The employer will remain the sole party to reap the advantage of this form of income payment staying in place, as they are exempted from the paying such contributions. The pension contribution would rise from 10 per cent to 24.43 per cent, health contribution, from 5 per cent to 8.35 per cent, and unemployment contribution from 0.5 per cent to 0.78 per cent respectively. Further more, the bill stipulates contributions for sick leave and health social insurance allowances of 0.85 per cent and another contribution, 0.15 per cent to 0.85 per cent, for work accidents and professional diseases. Not only that, employer Christmas, Easter or March 8 gifts to employees exceeding 150 RON will be subject to social insurance contributions, under the draft ordinance...

According to a National Statistics Institute (INS) communiqué, the net average nominal salary stood at RON 1,355 in July, down by RON 67 (4.7 per cent) compared to June, Agerpres informs. In the same month the gross average nominal salary stood at RON 1,868, 4.3 per cent lower than the level reported the month before. The highest value of the net average nominal salary was reported in the financial intermediations’ sector (RON 3,436), while the lowest was reported in the hotels and restaurants sector (RON 799).

The net average salary reported the following drops in the public system: education system (-22.6 per cent), health and social assistance (-19.8 per cent), public administration (-14.4 per cent). The 25 per cent salary cut applied within the public sector was the reason behind the drop in the net average salary there.

In July the Romanians’ incomes were sensibly eroded by inflation, so that the real salary income index stood at 92.9 per cent compared to June, INS informs. The Institute points out that the real salary income index was calculated as a ratio between the net nominal salary index and the consumer prices index. According to the INS, average...

Franklin Templeton takes over FP asset management

The general meeting of shareholders (AGA) of the Proprietatea Fund (FP) yesterday approved the appointment of Franklin Templeton Investment of Britain as single manager of the fund, Mediafax reports. The company will take over the fund management after publication of AGA resolutions in the Official Journal. The Proprietatea Fund assets total some RON 11 bln. The Proprietatea Fund could be listed on the London Stock Exchange at the end of next year, Franklin Templeton Chairman and CEO Mark Mobius said yesterday. ‘The London Exchange listing will be, in my view, sometime at the end of next year, because preparations take 6 to 8 months. We need to organise road shows to explain investors in the US, China and other countries where Romania lies’, Mobius said.

EUR 4 bln for Nabucco project

The European Investment Bank (EIB), together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and World Bank’s International Financial Corporation (IFC) signed an agreement that will potentially ensure financing of up to EUR 4 billion for the Nabucco pipeline project on Monday, Mediafax...

President Traian Basescu yesterday met at Cotroceni Palace with Jeffrey Franks, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission in Romania. The head of state availed himself of this opportunity to suggest the need for an extension of the ongoing accord between Romania and the IMF or the conclusion of a precautionary type agreement. ‘I’m glad to see you again, and I’m looking forward to the October visit, not an anniversary one, but an assessment of the difficulties we are facing. At any rate, my proposal is that, during the visit in October, we should look into the next agreement between Romania and the IMF to see which is the right solution, to extend the current accord or conclude a precautionary type agreement.

A fiscal area is needed for the absorption of European funds,’ Agerpres cited the Romanian president as saying. In Romania to attend the anniversary celebration of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), Jeffrey Franks stressed the need for no red tape stumbling blocks to get in the way of European funding, which are imperative for infrastructure, and saw removing public sector obstructions, which slow down money absorption, as the chief issue at stake....

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) Saturday celebrated its 130th anniversary. Throughout this year, there have been several scientific and cultural events including conferences and seminars on the history of banking, as well as exhibits, stamp and coin issues, but also events under the aegis “The Cultural days of the BNR”.

For the event Governor Mugur Isarescu invited in Bucharest financial figures linked to the recent history of the Romanian central bank, among whom, Zdenek Tuma, former governor of the National Bank of the Czech Republic; Alex Cukierman, professor at the University of Tel-Aviv; Jean Pisani-Ferry, the director of the Brussels-based Breugel, as well as Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, assistant director at the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also attending the event were Aaron Tornell, professor at the Economic Department of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Maxwell Watson, freelance professor at Wolfson College Oxford; Daniel Daianu, professor at the School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest, and Neven Mates, the chief adviser of the governor of the National Bank of Croatia. Isarescu’s speech...

Labour Minister Ioan Botis has stated that the draft emergency ordinance increasing by up to 35 per cent the social contributions from self-employed activities was given its first reading, with no decision taken as of yet, Mediafax reports. The newly-appointed minister also said government will take into account the proposals to be made at the upcoming public debate. While saying he is not aware of any Tax Code law amendment aimed at rising starting the next year the social contributions by the self-employed, Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) leader Marko Bela said there is now way he would accept such increase, Realitatea.net. reports. “What we are seeking now is to scrap the red tape surrounding self-employed statements, so that the employer takes the paperwork upon himself. We won’t accept any other changes, either now or in the future,” Marko said.

Having met with PM Emil Boc, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomiteanu said the amendments to OUG 58/2010 and its application norms, which were among the topics discussed with the premier, will be finalised after being debated by the Social and Economic Council, and are going to be up for passage at government’s...

Public sector restructuring must continue in the following years even if there is no longer a need for sudden fiscal consolidation, so that the reforms will render the economy more efficient and competitive, Jeffrey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Romania, recently stated, Mediafax informs. “I believe public sector restructuring must continue and I believe we are currently seeing some initiatives, meaning there is the pension reform, the second round of salary reform, there will be a continuation of public sector cuts, there are initiatives to work on the social benefits’ system,” Franks said. He stated that the government reshuffle will not affect the loan that the IMF gave to Romania, nor the release of the next disbursement or Romania’s external financing costs. Asked about a future loan, Franks stated that “I am aware of this intention, however it is premature to discuss this issue,” Agerpres informs.

On the other hand, the IMF is very worried about the issue of public sector arrears, the latter affecting both the private sector and economic recovery, Jeffrey Franks added. “We will work very carefully in order to make sure there is a sufficient buffer,” Franks...

Accounting profession under debate at CECCAR Congress

The works of the 18th Congress of the Accounting Profession in Romania, organised by the Board of Expert and Authorised Accountants in Romania (CECCAR) opened Friday before an attendance of 1,500 expert accountants, according to Agerpres. Guests to the two-day event included Robert Bunting, president of the International Federation of Accountants. The expert accountants present debated the chief issues their profession is facing, as well as the major role the accounting profession has in the current economic context. Radu Moraru and CECCAR president Marin Toma opened the first session of papers. It was followed by two roundtable discussions involving reputed accountants, Romanian and foreign.

Blue Air business stays afloat thanks to Bacau-London flights

Low-cost airline Blue Coast, held by businessman Nelu Iordache appears to stay in business only thanks to company-operated flights from Bacau to London, Bergamo and Turin respectively, according to ‘Gandul’ daily newspaper. This recession-dominated economic context led to some of the company’s 780 employees going to be laid off. The...

Catalina Stan, president and CEO of BDR Associates – named on European Excellence Awards international jury fourth time

Catalina Stan, president and CEO of the strategic communication agency BDR Associate, exclusive associate in Romanian of Hill&Knowlton, was invited for the fourth consecutive time, on the jury appraising the PR projects coming from various European countries, running in the European Excellence Awards annual competition, a release remitted to our editing office informs. “European Excellence Awards is on its fourth edition and is a competition initiated by ‘Communication Director’, a prestigious European communication and public relations magazine. Bringing together the most valuable PR projects and campaigns, European Excellence Awards confirms the importance of PR in the development of campaigns and celebrates creativity and exceptional achievements on various markets, Romania included, as Romanian PR agencies are, every year, among the winners,” Stan stated. The annual evaluation process is closed by a final deliberation, deciding who the most important awards, such as the Best PR Campaign or the European Agency of the Year, should go...

With tractors or just with bottles of milk, 15,000 farmers, members of the Agrostar federation and of 10 other professional organisations, picketed the prefectures of 23 counties yesterday.

“Thousands of farmers have taken to the streets not to beg, but to demand their rights. We demand the urgent dismissal of the Minister of Agriculture, Mihail Dumitru, who is identified with the bleakest period in the entire history of Romanian agriculture. If our demands are not granted, on September 9 we will hold a rally in Victoria Square in Bucharest,” Agrostar Federation President Nicolae Stefan said, according to Agerpres. Protesters in Arges County hooted and chanted ‘Down with the government!’ and ‘Thieves,’ holding placards reading ‘Stupidity brings greed,’ ‘No more tax evasion in agriculture,’ and ‘Subsidies- no, taxes-yes.’

Farmers in Targoviste came with 20 tractors and farming machines and urged the government to quit, Mediafax informs. Similar protests were organised in Transylvania, in the Counties of Sibiu and Timis. In Sfantu Gheorghe, farmers emptied milk bottles in front of the prefecture, dissatisfied with the manner in which their sector is being treated...

The Ministry of Finance will modify, next week, the norms for the application of the Government’s Emergency Ordinance 58/ 2010 for the payment of social contributions by employees paid based on royalty contracts or civil conventions, to ensure there will be no further monthly queues to file the statements of income. Thus, the obligation of paying the contributions and filing the statements will be incumbent on the employer, rather than on the beneficiary, ‘Gandul’ reports. The announcement was made by Government spokesperson Ioana Muntean at the end of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. She added that these modifications will be approved in the next Cabinet meeting, scheduled for next week, because Prime Minister Emil Boc insisted that all legal steps be observed, namely, that modifications be approved, also, by the Economic and Social Council (CES), which will convene on Monday.

The fact that the statements will have to be filed by the employer, who may also be under the obligation to pay social contributions, may, again, result in chaos, a tax expert claims. “If I hire an authorised natural person (PFA) to paint my apartment, this implies I have to file her statements of...

Two years ago, Bucharest high street retail market reached the peak of profitability, especially on main boulevards. Today, rental prices fell considerably, shows a study conducted by More Real Estate company analysts. In some areas the contraction was milder (-30%) and in some other it was more “aggressive” (-50% or even more). Study findings also revealed that austerity measures will probably force the market to contract furthermore and the location remains one of the decisive factors for a successful investment. The biggest contraction occurred in the places which had very high prices, like city centre areas. Also, the lowest cuts were reported in places secondary in terms of interest and where the infrastructure was refurbished, like Lipscani. Moreover, smaller space properties continue to obtain better prices than larger ones.

Also, the vacancy rate increased from 5-6% in 2008, to 15% in 2010, reaching 25% in some areas, like Unirii Boulevard.

“As the forecast for Romanian economy remains negative and new austerity measures are expected, further 5-15% ‘adjustments’ should not surprise anyone,” More Real Estate CEO Ilias Papageorgiadis explained at a press...

Data published yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INS) shows that investments in national economy dropped by 18.7 per cent to RON 22.48 bln in H1 of this year compared to the same period last year, most of them being reported in the industrial and commerce/services sectors. Thus, in the first six months the industrial sector drew 38.2 per cent of total investments, while the commerce/services sector drew 36.6 per cent of total investments, an INS release shows. At the opposite end were the constructions sector (17.9 per cent) and the agriculture sector (5.5 per cent). The investments that materialised in new construction works during the analysed period totaled RON 11.511 or 51.2 per cent of total investments in the construction sector, in contrast to 52.3 per cent in January-June 2009. Likewise, in the second quarter the share of equipments (including means of transportation) in total investments grew by 2.7 percentage points, while the share of investments in other expenditures grew by 0.9 per cent. The share of investments in new construction works dropped by 3.6 per cent. The same INS data shows the fact that the overall industrial production prices (both on...

Romania, among EU states with lowest economic growth in Q2

Romania is one of the states with the lowest economic growth in the EU in the second quarter, compared to the first three months of 2010, three times below the 1 per cent growth rate reported by the European Union and the euro zone, according to data presented yesterday by Eurostat, Mediafax reports. The only countries in the EU whose economic growth rate in the April-June interval, compared to the first quarter, was lower than in Romania were Spain and Portugal (0.2 per cent), Latvia (0.1 pc), Hungary (0 pc) and Greece (-1.5 pc). At the opposite end, Lithuania’s economy advanced by 3.2 per cent, Finland’s GDP rose by 3.1 per cent, and Germany advanced by 2.2 per cent. Compared to the second quarter of the preceding year, Romania is one of the six countries whose economy ebbed in the April to June interval. The steepest falls in the GDP were reported by Latvia (-3.9 per cent), Greece (-3.5 pc), Romania and Bulgaria (-1.5 pc), while Spain’s and Cyprus’s economy contracted only by 0.1 per cent, respectively, 0.2 per cent.

Berceanu: CFR Freight privatisation over by mid-2011

Transport...

Data of the National Statistical Institute (INS) confirm estimates published a few weeks ago. According to a release, the economy grew by 0.3 per cent in Q2 compared to Q1 of the year. On the other hand, economy was unable to recuperate enough on a year-on-year basis, reregistering a minus of 0.5 per cent. In fact, Romania has been in recession since Q3 of 2008, when the GDP started going down. In Q2 this year, the economy gained some strength, mainly thanks to export. Romania-made cars and telephones sold well, therefore the entire sector grew by over 20 per cent in H1 this year compared to H1 of last year.

According to INS, in Q2 of 2010, the industry grew by 5.9 per cent and compensated for the 8.3 per cent decrease suffered by the construction sector. Compared to Q2 of 2009, slight volume growth was also reported in Agriculture, hunting and forestry, fishing and fisheries (+0.7 per cent) and in financial activities, real estate activities, rentals and services for companies (+0.8 per cent). At the other end, activity volumes dropped in retail, automobile and home appliance repairs, hotels and restaurants, transport and telecom (-4.2 per cent) and in other activities...

The home consumption of fast-moving consumer goods in H1 dropped by 4 per cent in national currency from a year earlier, being the first decrease recorded in the last ten years, with personal care products and home cleaning goods being the most affected, a GfK press release issued yesterday states. Among the categories with the steepest volume falls the ones that stand out are deodorants (-21 per cent), universal cleaning products (-19 per cent), chocolate tablets (-18 per cent), the decrease being primarily due to the fact that they were purchased by fewer consumers. Total market shares in terms of value at a national level of the various forms of retail remained relatively constant in H1 of 2010 on a year-on-year basis. According to GfK, hypermarkets’ market share in the first half of the year was 21 per cent compared to 20 per cent the year earlier, supermarkets – 13 per cent compared to 12 per cent, discount stores – 8 per cent compared to 10 per cent and cash&carry stores kept their 2 per cent market share....

Financial analysts claim that renewing the agreement with international financiers is a must. Most consider this is the advisable strategy, ‘Adevarul’ reports. The idea of a new agreement for a loan is already being accredited in the public sphere. Some economists argue this is not the best approach. “The present agreement is still in progress, yet, at Cabinet level, the idea of a new agreement is already explored. Or, the focus should be on restructuring expenses, otherwise, the effect on investors may be the exact opposite,” investment consultant Doru Lionachescu, managing partner at Capital Partners, says. Economic analyst Ilie Serbanescu is persuaded the new agreement will not be a precautionary one, but yet another stand-by agreement. “The state is bankrupt, pensions and wages are paid out of loans. More than half of the loan will have to be paid by the selfsame state. Where are they going to find the money, under present market conditions?” the analyst wonders. Economist Aurelian Dochia argues that, in the present international context, it is hard to believe that an economy as the Romanian one is will be able to recover without external support. At the same time, Dochia...

Government will amend ordinance 58/2010 on the payment of social contributions corresponding to intellectual property activities. The amendments shall first receive the nod from the Economic and Social Council, Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely told Agerpres yesterday. He made the point it was Fin Min Sebastian Vladescu who came up with the changes, first read at Wednesday’s government session. Minister Borbely made the point the changes refer to the employer, and not the employee, going to submit the social contribution statements on intellectual property and other self-employed activities. Ordinance 58/201 sparked a heated controversy after thousands of people stood in endless lines to pay their contributions last...