Radio România Internațional

Tag: average

  • Structural and cohesion funds for Romania

    Structural and cohesion funds for Romania

    Romania has collected 1.9 billion Euros from the structural and cohesion funds financed in the financial year 2021-2027, the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Adrian Câciu, announced at the end of last week in a Facebook post. According to him, the general absorption rate, of 6.11%, places Romania in line with the European Union average, which is 6.19%. Things are even better for the programs managed centrally by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Transport, where the absorption rate of structural and cohesion funds stands at 7.3%.

     

    In the last few days alone, more than 650 million Euros have been collected from the structural and cohesion funds related to the 2021-2027 financial year, and reimbursements from the European Commission continue at the pace we predicted, considering that Romania has signed contracts worth over 31 billion Euros, Adrian Câciu wrote. However, he pointed out that Romania still has to catch up on the Regional Programs, where the absorption rate is only 3.2%. Adrian Câciu said he was convinced that the model that the current coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) has set in terms of managing and implementing European funds, including their decentralization, will be continued by the future governing coalition, and the rate of absorption of European funds will be sustained so as to repeat the success of European money absorption from the 2014-2020 financial year.

     

    On the other hand, the former European Commissioner Corina Creţu claims that there is no locality in Romania that has not benefited from European funds, a fact that is due to Romania’s EU membership. The statement comes as if to give a reply to the tireless detractors of the European Union, including those in the new Parliament, who, under the name of sovereigntists, hardly hide their anti-Western sentiment. In 2023, Romania was on first place in terms of funds received, related to the population, Corina Creţu stated, citing a Euronews analysis. The former Commissioner for Regional Policy recalls that, since joining the European Union in 2007, Romania has received over 95 billion Euros worth of non-reimbursable funds, for a contribution of less than 30 billion Euros. Among the major projects that have benefited from European funds are several large regional hospitals, the Transport Master Plan, highway sectors, railway rehabilitation, the metro line that will connect Otopeni, the largest airport in the country, to the North Railway Station and, last but not least, the suspension bridge over the Danube from Brăila, the third largest in Europe and one of the most important infrastructure projects in Romania, in the last 30 years. (LS)

  • Romania has higher inflation rate

    Romania has higher inflation rate

    In November 2022, Romania’s inflation rate stood at
    16.8% exceeding the forecast announced by the Central Bank governor, Mugur
    Isarescu, of 16.3%. That has been the highest inflation rate in the past two
    decades. In 2002, Romania reported an annual inflation rate of 22.5% and from
    2005 until last year the country had only single-digit inflation rates.


    This alarming pace seemed to be
    slightly going down at the beginning of the year, but went up again last month
    as compared to January from 15.07 to 15.52% against the latest price hikes in food
    products and services. Figures released on Monday by the National Institute for
    Statistics prove that the prices of these products and services saw the highest
    increase in the first months of the year, but experts say this shouldn’t alter
    the forecast by the Central Bank (BNR) according to which the inflation rate will
    again return to single digits towards the end of the year.


    Food prices saw the most significant
    increase in February by roughly 3.4%, while services rose by 2.5%. At the same
    time, prices in non-food products slightly dropped by 0.5% on an average.


    Significant price hikes were registered last month in
    the category of fresh and canned vegetables, up by 6.35% followed by the fresh
    fruits with roughly 4.9% and services for making and mending clothes and
    footwear over 3.5%.


    Prices in fresh fish, cheese, personal hygiene and
    care products as well as other non-food products have grown between 2% and 3%.


    Prices in air transport services went down by more
    than 12%, whereas prices for cooking oil, electricity and heat by 1% on an
    average. According to the latest forecasts, prices were supposed to continue
    their downward trend, but experts said this process isn’t a linear one. The
    same tendency has been noticed in other EU countries as well where the
    inflation rate in February proved to be higher than a month before.


    According to experts, this process of keeping
    inflation at bay is likely to continue but will have its monthly ups and downs.
    In a Radio Romania interview, the financial expert and Central Bank advisor,
    Adrian Vasilescu, has confirmed this theory.


    In the meantime, the INS data show that Romania’s
    trade deficit in January stood at 2.338 billion euros, 203.6 million higher
    than in January 2022. The rise was partly caused by the growing inflation,
    which raised the imports value, but the main cause is the fact that the
    domestic output cannot cover the demand, not even in sectors with tradition,
    such as the agro-food industry, the chemical or the car-making sectors. Experts
    say that the authorities should step in and take action in order to prevent the
    situation from worsening.


    (bill)

  • September 25, 2021

    September 25, 2021

    COVID-19 The number of COVID
    cases continues to rise in Romania, with more than 7,000 daily new cases
    reported for several days in a row. Nearly 10,000 SARS-CoV-2 patients are in
    hospitals, 264 of them children, while 1,195 patients are in intensive care. Nationwide,
    hundreds towns and villages are on the red list of places with infection rates
    of over 3 per thousand. The capital Bucharest is also on the list, and as of
    today additional restrictions are in place in the city. The digital COVID
    certificate is required for participation in certain events, and even so indoor
    weddings and similar events are to be attended by 200 people at most, while
    restaurants, performance halls, pools and the like operate at half their
    capacity and only accept COVID certificate holders. As the number of infections
    grows, Romanians get more open to immunisation, with over 17,000 people having
    received a shot in the last 24 hours.


    LIBERALS
    The Liberals are today
    electing their president for the next 4 years, in a Congress attended among
    others by President Klaus Iohannis. Thousands of delegates from all party
    branches in the country are choosing between the incumbent party chief Ludovic
    Orban and PM Florin Cîţu. Ludovic Orban argues he is a sure bet for the party,
    and that his goal is to rebuild the image of the party and citizens’ confidence
    in it. He says the National Liberal Party should support Romanian businesses
    and reaffirm and promote individual rights and liberties. His challenger says
    he has entered the competition in order to build and unify the Liberal Party.
    I strongly believe only a Liberal Romania can ensure the wellbeing of its
    citizens, Florin Cîţu argues, and says his priorities are to revise the
    Constitution, to ensure the country joins the Schengen visa-free area, to boost
    investments and motivate entrepreneurs. The two ran harsh campaigns, with
    unprecedented attacks against each other. At stake is more than the party
    presidency, and today’s battle is to also decide the governing formula, the
    parliamentary majority and the holders of the prime minister and Chamber of
    Deputies speaker posts.


    FRIGATE The Romanian frigate
    Queen Marie has concluded its participation in the NATO Operation Sea
    Guardian, in the Mediterranean, and is docking today in the Black Sea
    port of Constanţa. During the 3 weeks of commanding the NATO vessel unit, Queen
    Marie inspected over 800 ships in the Mediterranean. The IAR Puma Naval
    helicopter on board of the frigate contributed to the early identification of
    suspicious vessels. Also taking part in Operation Sea Guardian were
    vessels, aircraft and submarines from Romania, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey,
    Spain and Germany, and the missions contributed to strengthening security in
    Europe’s southern flank.


    SALARY Romanians last year
    earned gross salaries of roughly 1,030 euros, the National Statistics Institute
    announced, up 7.4% since the previous year. Net salaries, averaging at 650
    euros per month, also increased by 7.7%. The best paying sectors are IT&C, finances
    and insurance, public administration and the energy sector. At the opposite
    pole are the hospitality industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and the
    real estate market.


    ELECTION In Germany, the last
    electoral rallies were held ahead of Sunday’s election, in which over 60 million
    citizens are to elect the 20th Bundestag (the single-chamber federal
    parliament). According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, this historic election
    may see the end of the 16-year leadership of Angela Merkel’s Conservatives. The
    incumbent chancellor, who stepped down as party president, urged her supporters
    to vote for Armin Laschet, the Christian Democratic Union candidate, to ensure
    the stability of the country. However, all recent polls indicate that the
    incumbent finance minister Olaf Scholz, the candidate backed by the Social
    Democratic Party (SPD) is ahead of Laschet. The election marks the end of the Merkel
    era, and press agencies note that given the tight race, the next government may
    require an alliance of 3 parties.


    DIASPORA A Romanian Foreign
    Ministry official discussed with members of the Romanian community in Italy
    about improving consular services, as many diaspora members are unhappy with
    the difficult and often unfriendly procedures required by the Romanian
    authorities. The head of the ministry’s Consular Department Valentin Muntean
    presented the reforms planned by the authorities, in a hybrid meeting attended
    by all the general consuls in Italy and around 40 representatives of Romanian
    associations in that country. The participants tackled means to modernise and
    broaden the consular network, to simplify procedures, to upgrade and optimise
    the digital platforms and systems used by the Romanian authorities, and to
    reduce red-tape. (tr. A.M. Popescu)