Radio România Internațional

Tag: savings

  • January 4, 2021 UPDATE

    January 4, 2021 UPDATE

    TALKS The government of Romania will hold talks this week on the 2021 state budget. According to Liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu, the budget is going to be based on a 7% deficit and will be submitted for Parliament approval by the end of the month. According to the Prime Minister, the 7% target is proof of the firm commitment to fiscal consolidation without hindering the economy. The budget will allow for an extension to June 30th of economic measures triggered by the pandemic, including compensations to employees during the suspension of employment and financial support for employers. A state aid scheme for the hospitality industry and travel agencies, totalling 500 million euros and financed from EU funds, will also be in place. The government might also discuss this week a bill raising the national minimum wage, while all wages in state-owned companies are to be frozen at the level of December 2020.




    COVID-19 – In the past 24 hours Romania has reported over 3,100 fresh cases of Covid-19 infections, out of 10,000 tests carried out nationwide, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Monday. Roughly 644,000 people have been infected with the virus since the first case was reported in Romania in February last year. Out of these, 577,000 have recovered. Another 78 people died to the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll since the onset of the pandemic to 16,057. 1,100 are in intensive care and the authorities are bracing up for a new wave of infections after the winter holidays. According to Raed Arafat, head of the Department for Emergency Situations, although the immunization campaign in Romania has commenced, prevention measures, like face covering, hand washing and social distancing remain mandatory. The vaccination campaign has been extended in Romania, which is to activate over 90% of the 376 centres for healthcare personnel and care centres. Nearly 13,500 medical workers were immunized in the first week since the vaccine was brought to Romania, with authorities targeting a daily 20,000 vaccination rate in the forthcoming period. The coordinator of the vaccination programme, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, says the second stage of the programme, targeting patients in care centres, may be initiated in mid-January.




    FLIGHTS The National Committee for Emergency Situations in Romania has updated their list of countries and areas in the COVID-19 red zone and decided to resume flights to and from the UK. People coming to Romania from this country are to isolate themselves for 10 days and must have taken a Covid-19 test at least 48 hours before their arrival. Flights to the UK were suspended on December 20th after a fresh, more contagious virus strain had been discovered in Britain. Italy has been included on the list of countries with a higher risk of transmission.




    AUTOMOTIVE The number of new car registrations went up 16% in Romania in December 2020 compared to December 2019, to 15,974 units, according to the Romanian Association of Automotive Makers (ACAROM). However, for the entire year 2020 the number dropped by 22%. As regards used vehicles registered in Romania for the first time, the number dropped by 5% in December 2020 compared to 2019, to 34,174 units. The best selling new cars in Romania in 2020 are Dacia, followed by Skoda, Renault, Volkswagen and Ford.




    ENERGY The European Commission Monday greenlighted the acquisition by the Europe Division of MIRA investment fund (Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets) of electricity production and supply assets held by the Czech group CEZ. In October 2020, CEZ Group announced the sale of its assets in Romania to MIRA, the worlds largest infrastructure management company. The transaction involved 7 companies, including electricity distribution and supply networks and Europes largest onshore wind farm, in Fântânele – Cogealac (south-eastern Romania).




    SAVINGS Four out of ten Romanians managed to save during the pandemic, as compared to two-thirds before. A survey conducted by the Romanian Research and Strategy Institute (IRES), and commissioned by the Romanian Banks Association, also shows that two-thirds of the household and corporate savings are in the local currency, mostly in short-term deposits. According to the survey, if they had money to spare, 28% of Romanians would invest in their or their familys education, 23% would keep the money in banks, 16% would start up a company and 10% would buy hard currency. The poll was conducted in December 2020.




    AIR FORCES MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft and around 90 US Air Force personnel are deployed for the next few months to ‘Gen. Emanoil Ionescu’ 71st Air Base in Câmpia Turzii, north-western Romania. According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, the Romanian Air Forces will provide technical, logistic and operational support to the MQ-9 Reapers intelligence, surveillance and recon missions as part of NATO operations. The US-Romanian cooperation is designed to strengthen the defence capacity and enhance security in the region. (tr. A. M. Popescu)

  • May 14, 2020 UPDATE

    May 14, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID-19 We are at the end of 2 difficult months, the president of Romania said on Thursday night, hours before the end of the state of emergency introduced on March 16 in order to contain the coronavirus epidemic. He congratulated Romanians on managing to curb the quick spread of the COVID-19, through a national effort, and to keep the number of victims very low. The president also said that the National Emergency Committee will now declare a state of alert, which lifts some of the restrictions, but warned that if the situation worsens, he will not hesitate to reintroduce the state of emergency. According to the latest data, Romania has seen 1,046 COVID-19 related deaths and over 16,000 cases. More than 9,000 have recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, over 2,855 have so far tested positive for the coronavirus, and 102 have died.



    MEASURES The Government Thursday approved new measures to support the companies and citizens affected by the corona crisis. Furlough payments will be extended until June 1 for the sectors that remain closed down. Deputy PM Raluca Turcan also mentioned that until the school year is over, next month, parents who have to stay at home with their children will also benefit from paid leave. In turn, the economy minister Virgil Popescu said in the second half of the year the relevant authority may work to reduce electricity prices by 1-2%.



    AID The Romanian Embassy in Chișinău announced the medical equipment, materials and medicines sent by Bucharest to support Moldova fight the SARS-CoV2 outbreak have started to be distributed to hospitals. Romanias donation amounts to 3.5 million euros and consists in materials covering Moldovan hospital needs for the next 2 or 3 months, Ambassador Daniel Ioniță says. Tens of doctors and nurses from Romania also assisted Moldovas healthcare staff during the pandemic. PM Ludovic Orban promised Romania would send further aid to the Republic of Moldova when required.



    SAVINGS Two in 3 Romanian employees have managed to save money in the past 2 months and intend to continue to do so, fearing a prospective recession, according to a poll carried out by one of the countrys largest online recruitment platforms. On the other hand, the state of emergency caught the other interviewees without any savings and this has not changed. According to the same poll, nearly 35% of the respondents say the first thing they intend to do after normal activity is at least partly resumed is to look for another job, while 18% say they plan to ask for a pay raise or to start their own business. As many as 14% of the employees in Romania expect their salaries to be cut, and another 5% expect to lose their jobs as companies will struggle to recover after the corona crisis.



    ENVIRONMENT The European Commission Thursday decided to send a letter to Romania giving it 4 months to take the necessary measures to solve air quality problems. This is the official beginning of an infringement procedure. Romania has failed to comply with the nitrogen dioxide threshold in the capital Bucharest and 4 other major cities—Braşov (centre), Iaşi (east), Cluj (north-west) and Timişoara (west), and to take adequate measures to reduce the periods when the threshold was breached, the EC explains. On April 30, the EU Court of Justice ruled against Romania for non-compliance with the Parliament and Council directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.



    MARTYRS On May 14 Romania commemorated the people killed in communist prisons. On the night of May 14, 1948, the largest number of political arrests in the history of the country was reported. Tens of thousands of youth, many of them high school and university students, were arrested and sent to prison and labour camps then in a plan put together by the communist authorities. Historians say over 600,000 Romanians were victims of the communist prison system between 1944 and 1989.



    PANDEMIC In Spain, one of the worst hit countries in Europe, only 5.3% of the population have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the preliminary findings of a survey aimed at establishing the percentage of the population that have developed coronavirus antibodies. Herd immunity is far from being reached, as it requires 60-70% of the population to be infected. Meanwhile, Spains authorities announced a 14-day quarantine will be compulsory for all travellers entering the country, as of Friday, May 15. In Rome, the government proposes that the state of emergency stay in place until January 31, 2021, in order to contain the disease, although the latest data point to a drop in new cases. In the US, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that hackers backed by the Chinese government are targeting American institutions working on new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and urged all these institutions to strengthen their cybersecurity. China denied the accusations. The total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide is 4.5 million, with the death toll standing at around 300,000. Over 1.6 million patients have recovered. In the USA, the worst hit country in the world, the number of deaths is over 84,000. In Europe, the most affected country is the UK, followed by Italy, Spain and France.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • COVID-19 compounds public fears 20/03/2020

    COVID-19 compounds public fears 20/03/2020

    One in two employees
    in Romania fears the economic recession that could follow the COVID-19
    pandemic, while a quarter of employees say they have savings to last less than
    a month, in the event they lose their jobs. These are the results of a survey
    conducted by BestJobs employment portal. 21% of participants say they afford to
    cover utilities expenses for a maximum of three months, while some 10% for six
    months. Only 7.4% of Romanians say they have savings to last them a whole year.
    According to the survey, 34% of Romanians are very worried they might lose
    their jobs.

    Over 43% of respondents fear the coronavirus pandemic might financially
    affect the companies they work for. If they find themselves without a job, 45%
    of respondents say it would be hard to find a job, while 20% say it would be
    very hard. In turn, over half of employers say they have contingency business
    plans in place in case the coronavirus pandemic escalates in Romania. For the
    time being, the main effects of the health crisis is that employees fear to
    make contact with clients. Some providers couldn’t deliver their orders, prices
    for certain products have gone up substantially, while employees can no longer
    travel abroad to do business.

    Most employees, accounting for 44% of
    respondents, say they are a little worried they might get infected with the
    coronavirus, while 35% expressed serious concern. 82% of respondents say they sanitize
    their hands frequently, while 7 in 10 respondents say they avoid crowded public
    places. Along similar lines, 67% say they make zero contact with other people.
    Moreover, nearly half of respondents say they refrain from using public means
    of transportation. The survey was conducted over March 9-16.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)