BANK According to Central Bank forecasts the annual
inflation rate in Romania will slightly go down only in the last quarter of the
year. The bank says the annual inflation rate ceased to rise in June and is
expected to fluctuate for a while then to slightly go down for the next three
quarters. Inflation has been forecast to stay around 13.9% in December exceeding
the initial predictions of 12.5%. According to the Central Bank, inflationist
pressures are to be seriously felt in April next year, after schemes aimed at capping
electricity prices will have ended. In an attempt to keep inflation at bay, the
bank decided to raise the key interest rate from 4.47% to 5.5%.
HOLIDAY Seaside resorts on the Romanian Black Sea
coast are functioning at full capacity these days in spite of the high accommodation
prices. Prices are expected to go down next week under a yearly programme
entitled ‘Seaside for everyone’ due to kick off on August 28th.
According to representatives of the Employers Association in the Romanian
tourism, roughly 100 hotels are getting ready to accommodate tourists for
prices 75% lower than at the peak of the season.
MEDALS Romanian athlete Catalin Chirila won bronze
in the 500 meter race at the Canoe Sprint European Championships in Munich. A
world’s vice-champion in Halifax, Canada, Chirila also reaped gold in the 1000 meter
single canoe race in Munich. Another two athletes from Romania, Constantin
Popovici and Catalin Preda walked away with gold and silver from the high diving
event of the European Aquatics Championships held in Rome. Popovici made
history as the first European champion in this event with 455.70 points. Preda,
who took the lead after the first three rounds, eventually ended second with
436.20 points. Italian Alessandro De Rose came third in the aforementioned
event. Constantin’s namesake David claimed two European titles and a world
record in the pool and has been designated the best athlete in the men’s events
at the present edition of the Aquatics in Rome.
VOLLEYBALL Romania’s national men’s volleyball side
have qualified for the European Championships due next year after a 3-0 win
against Albania in their last away game in the preliminary group G. Romania
ranks first in the group with 5 wins and 15 points followed by Switzerland with
12 points, Bosnia-Herzegovina 4 points and Albania with two. The seven winning
sides of the preliminaries as well as the best five runner-ups are qualified
for the final tournament. Romania won a European title in 1963, two silver
medals in 1955 and 1958 and two bronze in 1971 and 1977. At the 2019 edition of
the European Championship our side ranked 21st.
DIPLOMACY According to the spokeswoman for the
Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, Russia will have a proper response
to Bucharest’s decision to declare persona non grata an employee of its embassy
in Romania. Zakharova says that Romania has declared the Russian employee
persona non grata ‘without any reason and under exaggerated pretexts’. The
Romanian Foreign Ministry says that a decision to expel the Russian employee
has been made because the person was involved in activities incompatible with
the Vienna Convention of 1961 concerning diplomatic relations, a generic
definition for espionage allegations.
(bill)