BUDGET The Romanian
government has endorsed the first budget adjustment this year, a positive one,
based on a 3.5% growth of the revenue budget in the first six months and the
budget execution in this period. Finance Minister Adrian Caciu believes the
budget deficit can be kept under control and the 5.84% target at the end of the
year is doable. The Fiscal Council, an independent watchdog monitoring the
sustainability of fiscal and budget policies, has cautioned though that the
latest adjustment can lead to an exceeded 7% deficit of the GDP, as the
government has overrated the revenues and underrated part of the expenses.
MARATHON 250 runners from 10 countries
are to participate in one of the most difficult ultra marathons in Romania, the
2X2 Race due to kick off on Saturday at the Balea Lake in the Fagaras
Mountains, at an altitude over 2,000 meters, AGERPRESS news agency reports. The
race is unique in Europe as most of it takes place at this staggering altitude.
The 2X2 Race this year brings together runners from Romania, the Republic of
Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France,
Israel and Russia. They are to run up to the Negoiu, the second highest summit
in Romania, at an altitude of 2535 meters.
REFUGEES According to
the General Border Police Inspectorate, roughly 292 thousand people, Romanian
and foreign citizens, have been registered at Romania’s border checkpoints of
late. Among them over 12,600 Ukrainian nationals, which bring the total number of
Ukranian refugees who have entered Romania since the beginning of the conflict up
to almost 2 million. Most of them have only transited Romania to other
destinations.
TENNIS On Thursday
night, the Romanian-Austrian pair Bernadette Szocs/Sofia Polcanova walked away
with gold from the women’s double finals of the European Table Tennis
Championships in Munich, Germany after a win against the all-Romanian pair,
Elizabeta Samara/Andreea Dragoman. Samara and Dragoman became silver medalists,
while Adina Diaconu from Romania and Maria Xiao of Spain walked away with
bronze. We recall that Bernadette Szocs and Ovidiu Ionescu won silver in the
mixed doubles of the aforementioned competition.
FOOTBALL Two draws
and a defeat are the results obtained by the Romanian football sides in the
first round of the Europa Conference League’s play-offs. The Romanian champions
CFR Cluj ended in a goaless draw their away match against Slovenian side NK
Maribor held on Thursday night. Universitatea Craiova drew their home game
one-all against Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva, FCSB, runner-up in the Romanian
championship, lost 2-1 their home match against the Norwegians from Viking
Stavanger. The return matches are due next week.
(bill)