Romania – fourth economic slump rate in the EU


Romania reported in the first quarter the fourth economic slump rate in the European Union, of 0.3 per cent, compared to the last quarter of the preceding year, while, within the community as a whole, GDP rose by 0.2 per cent, Eurostat informs. Between October and December 2009, Romania’s GDP dropped by 1.5 per cent, on a quarterly basis, while average GDP in the EU rose by 0.1 per cent, according to a report from Eurostat. The highest quarterly economic slump in the EU was reported, between January and March, by Lithuania (4.1 pc), followed by Estonia (2.3 pc), Greece (0.8 pc), Romania and Cyprus (0.2 pc). The highest economic growth rates were reported by Portugal (1 pc), Hungary (0.9 pc), Slovakia (0.8 pc) and Italy (0.5 pc). GDP stalled only in Austria. In Germany, the economy advanced by 0.2 per cent, and, in France and Spain, by 0.1 per cent. Romania also ranks fourth in the EU in terms of the annual slump of GDP in the first quarter, of 2.5 per cent.


Unemployment insurance not among insurers’ priorities


Insurance companies are not that interested in selling unemployment insurance policies for a very simple reason – the rise in the number of workers who will become jobless in the next 12 month is a certainty, insurers stated during a meeting with the mass-media yesterday, Mediafax reports. ‘Insurance companies work with notions or risk rather than certainties. As long as the government-announced austerity plan is bound to generate more unemployment, insurers find no interest in promoting a policy to cover against that particular risk,’ the President of the National Union of Romanian Insurance Companies (UNSAR), Cristian Constantinescu, said. In addition, the UNSAR official noted that the premium charged to the client would need to be very high, therefore prohibitive. The president of UNSAR also said there are not really too many types of redundancy-specific policies available on the market.


IMF in Moldova says will recommend USD 90 M credit


An International Monetary Fund mission visiting Moldova said on Thursday it would recommend disbursement of a third tranche of USD 90 M credit after forecasting higher-than-expected GDP growth for 2010. “We forecast that its (Moldova’s) gross domestic product this year will be higher than the 1.5-2.0 per cent previously forecast. The Fund has increased its forecast to 2.5 percent,” IMF mission leader Nikolai Gueorguiev told a news conference. He said the government’s “good results” meant the mission would propose to the IMF board of directors that they provide the next tranche of planned credit from the three-year USD 590 million programme.


Marfin Bank Romania has
new leadership


The Marfin Bank Group has assigned Doros Ktorides, previously in charge with recouping the debts owed to the bank, as general director of Marfin Bank Romania and president of the leasing company. He succeeds Stylianos Sofianos, Mediafax reports. Ktorides has been with the Marfin Group for 26 years and was in charge of recouping the debts owed to the group, director of the Cyprus-based leasing company and retail banking director. The group named George Athanasopoulos as deputy general director. He succeeds Dimitrios Zoumproulis. Sofianos’s and Zoumproulis’s executive mandates expired late last year. Marfin Egnatia Bank holds 99.3 per cent of the share capital of Marfin Bank Romania. The bank is changing its strategy towards increasing its market share through larger retail banking investments aimed at a more diversified product and service portfolio, the bank’s new general director, Doros Ktorides, said, adding that organic growth is Marfin Bank Romania’s top option, with the bank contemplating extending its current 27-strong branch network, depending on economic growth.


FAN Courier expects business up10 pc


FAN Courier’s projected 2010 year-on-year turnover rise is by 10 per cent, from RON 167.4 M to RON 184.15 M, company announced yesterday. ‘In the context of last year – a year underlain by crisis for the entire economy – FAN Courier decided to keep both its team and fleet at the same size (2,300 employees and over 1,500 vehicles) and to raise investment by approximately 50 per cent,’ a Mediafax-cited company release reads. The company last year raised turnover by nearly 9 per cent from RON 153.7 M posted in 2008.