Romanian news Nokia achieves 1 billion-euro business in only three years – in Ziarul Financiar, Food and car sales grow before the VAT increase – in Ziarul Financiar, Finance Minister announces deeper recession than expected in 2010 – in Ziarul Financiar

Drug imports 17 times higher than exports – in Ziarul Financiar

Yahoo! Will offer call center support services for its products in nine languages, among which Romanian in a new call center set up in Cairo, according to the company. The call center will be run by IBM. Support in Romania will be added in later phase, after securing services in Arab, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Romanian, Turkish, Polish and Russian will be added later on.

Romanians have started to buy provisions at lower prices just before the VAT increase, which has left many supermarkets and hypermarkets without stocks for certain production, like oil, sugar and other basic food items. Store like discounter Profi have seen their sale go up by 20 to 30 percent in the last couple of days, compared to the average sales before the VAT hike announcement.

Several Chinese companies have discussed the possibility of investing in wind farms, agriculture and the mining system in Romania with the local Government in the last month, in an attempt to increase trade in Eastern Europe. Among the planned Chinese projects in Eastern Europe is a EUR 1 billion thermal power plant, according to the Financial Times.

Housing trading prices in Romania dropped by 3.9 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period of last year, according to the first real estate index published by the Romanian Institute of Statistics (INS). The data collected was based on information provided by notaries starting January 2009.

Romanian media
Bad news from Romania hurt forint, Romania market is too small – in Ziarul Financiar, Euro up to new all time highs, NBR won’t intervene – in Ziarul Financiar, Budget deficit climbs by another 1bn euros in May, to 3.1% of GDP – in Ziarul Financiar, Reduced VAT rates of 9% and 5% remain unmodified – in Ziarul Financiar

Romtelecom tailors voice and Internet offer for renewed consumption decline – in Ziarul Financiar

10 largest consumer goods firms: The crisis, visible in halved profits – in Ziarul Financiar

The Romanian currency has further depreciated today and the Romanian Central bank has published a rate of RON 4.35 for an EUR. The US dollar has also strengthened, reaching a record rate of RON 3.56 for a USD.

The Romanian currency RON has continued to depreciate on Monday, after the week-end announcement about the VAT increase and after having suffered a first round of depreciation last Friday, after the Constitutional Court ruled out the decrease of pensions.

The exchange rate reached RON 4.37 for EUR on the inter-banking market towards the end of the day, after foreign investors have bought euro.

Flooding has caused a death toll of 16 so far, with other nine people gone missing, after as many as 28 counties in the country were affected by heavy rain. The flooding is expected to cause damages higher than 0.6 percent of the Romanian GDP, according to Interior Minister Vasile Blaga, who said the country will use the EU solidarity fund for help.

The tax revenues collected to the Romanian state budget are among the lowest in the European Union when compared to the local GDP. The ration of these revenues was of 28 percent out of GDP in 2008, while the EU average where close to 40 percent, according to Eurostat. Romania's tax rates are not among the lowest in the region, but its collection lags behind other EU states.

Romanian news Nokia achieves 1 billion-euro business in only three years – in Ziarul Financiar, Food and car sales grow before the VAT increase – in Ziarul Financiar, Finance Minister announces deeper recession than expected in 2010 – in Ziarul Financiar

Drug imports 17 times higher than exports – in Ziarul Financiar

Yahoo! Will offer call center support services for its products in nine languages, among which Romanian in a new call center set up in Cairo, according to the company. The call center will be run by IBM. Support in Romania will be added in later phase, after securing services in Arab, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Romanian, Turkish, Polish and Russian will be added later on.

Romanians have started to buy provisions at lower prices just before the VAT increase, which has left many supermarkets and hypermarkets without stocks for certain production, like oil, sugar and other basic food items. Store like discounter Profi have seen their sale go up by 20 to 30 percent in the last couple of days, compared to the average sales before the VAT hike announcement.

Several Chinese companies have discussed the possibility of investing in wind farms, agriculture and the mining system in Romania with the local Government in the last month, in an attempt to increase trade in Eastern Europe. Among the planned Chinese projects in Eastern Europe is a EUR 1 billion thermal power plant, according to the Financial Times.

Housing trading prices in Romania dropped by 3.9 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period of last year, according to the first real estate index published by the Romanian Institute of Statistics (INS). The data collected was based on information provided by notaries starting January 2009.

Romanian media
Bad news from Romania hurt forint, Romania market is too small – in Ziarul Financiar, Euro up to new all time highs, NBR won’t intervene – in Ziarul Financiar, Budget deficit climbs by another 1bn euros in May, to 3.1% of GDP – in Ziarul Financiar, Reduced VAT rates of 9% and 5% remain unmodified – in Ziarul Financiar

Romtelecom tailors voice and Internet offer for renewed consumption decline – in Ziarul Financiar

10 largest consumer goods firms: The crisis, visible in halved profits – in Ziarul Financiar

The Romanian currency has further depreciated today and the Romanian Central bank has published a rate of RON 4.35 for an EUR. The US dollar has also strengthened, reaching a record rate of RON 3.56 for a USD.

The Romanian currency RON has continued to depreciate on Monday, after the week-end announcement about the VAT increase and after having suffered a first round of depreciation last Friday, after the Constitutional Court ruled out the decrease of pensions.

The exchange rate reached RON 4.37 for EUR on the inter-banking market towards the end of the day, after foreign investors have bought euro.

Flooding has caused a death toll of 16 so far, with other nine people gone missing, after as many as 28 counties in the country were affected by heavy rain. The flooding is expected to cause damages higher than 0.6 percent of the Romanian GDP, according to Interior Minister Vasile Blaga, who said the country will use the EU solidarity fund for help.

The tax revenues collected to the Romanian state budget are among the lowest in the European Union when compared to the local GDP. The ration of these revenues was of 28 percent out of GDP in 2008, while the EU average where close to 40 percent, according to Eurostat. Romania's tax rates are not among the lowest in the region, but its collection lags behind other EU states.