Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu declared that the switchover to the euro will be possible only after the Romanians' incomes get close to earnings in other European Union member states. "Let's make sure that this monetary convergence is done in parallel with the convergence of incomes. We believe that the switchover to the euro can be done only after the Romanians' incomes get close to earnings in other EU member states," Grindeanu told the meeting of the interministerial Committee on the switchover to the euro, held at the Victoria Palace of Government quoted by Agerpress....more »

The unemployment rate recorded in the National Employment Agency (ANOFM) records was 4.80 percent in January 2017, higher by 0.03 percentage points compared to the one of the previous month and lower by 0.01 percentage points compared to the one ...more »

The industry turnover increased by 9.1 pct, in nominal terms, in January as compared to the same month of the previous year, but decreased by 5.6 pct compared with December 2016, reads a press release of the National Statistics Institute (INS) and quoted by Agepress. "The industry turnover fell by 5.6 pct in January 2017 compared to the previous month, following the drops in the manufacturing industry (-5.7 pct) and the mining industry (-3.3 pct). The following decreases were recorded in the large industrial groups: the consumer goods industry (-16.0 pct), the energy industry (-14.1 pct), the intermediary goods industry (-3.5 pct) and the durable goods industry (-1.6 pct). The capital goods industry has grown by 1.1 pct, reads the document....more »

The internet service penetration rate in Romania stands at 89 percent and connectivity around 60 percent, the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications - ANCOM President Catalin Marinescu told a specialist conference oquoted by Agerpress....more »

Romanian M&A reached an eight-year high in deal volume with 45 deals, a spike of 41% year- on-year in volume, and a 60% jump in value with a combined deal value of €1.99bn shows a study released by Wolf Theiss and Merger Market.  The strong performance in 2016 came in spite of the political uncertainty generated by a parliamentary election in December, an indicator of the country’s growth potential, whichever party is in power. In fact, expansionist scal policy has played a central role in accelerating domestic demand, a key growth driver. A value-added tax cut from 24% to 20% in 2016 will be followed by a reduction to 19% in 2017, while there have been three increases in the minimum wage in 18 months....more »

With closed transactions of 3.5 billion EUR during 2015 and 2016, Romania has been the champion of the Central European region at non-performing loan (NPL) sales portfolios, according to Deloitte’s annual NPL Study.  The CEE region has experienced an increased interest of NPL investors and a higher bank activity due to improvement of economic conditions, coupled with an increase in provisioning following the AQR exercises in several of the CEE countries. The largest number of completed deal volumes took place in Romania (37%), followed by Hungary (24%), Poland (11%) and Slovenia (9%)....more »

Recolamp, a non-profit organization founded by General Electric, Osram and Philips Romania in 2007, collected and recycled 658 tons of lighting equipment waste in 2016. Last year, the association represented 187 Romanian producers of whom it took over the legal responsibility on the management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment put on the market - Category 5 - lighting equipment, according to the classification of GEO 5/2015. Thus, on behalf of its participants, Recolamp managed to fulfill legal the collection target of 40% of the average producers' sales in the last 3 years....more »

Despite popular fears which range from job losses to doomsday scenarios, finance professionals welcome the rise of artificial intelligence, automation and robots, according to the latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). ...more »

The Government decided on Thursday to adopt a memorandum on establishing the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund (FSDI), the Economy Minister Alexandru Petrescu announced.  "Today, we have adopted a memorandum, according to the 2017-2020 governance programme, taking into account the founding of new public investments, the establishment of the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund being an economy stimulation measure, an investment funding instrument in competitive, profitable and sustainable sectors, with a multiplication effect in economy, going to attract capital and financial market sources," Alexandru Petrescu stated, in a briefing at the Victoria Palace....more »

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) forecasts for 2017 an economic growth ranging between 4 pct and 5 pct, but this is in connection with the institution's macro-economic scenario, the central bank's governor Mugur Isarescu on Thursday told a news conference.  "The prediction in our model is confidential (...) it's somewhere between 4 pct and 5 pct. It's unrelated to the budget construction, do not put them in counterpart, we wouldn't want to create another issue in the society!...more »