George Banciulea

The financial crisis and the pandemic have led to an increase in the public debt from about 15% of GDP in 2008 up to over 47% of GDP at the end of 2020, with a fiscal consolidation with an average annual deficit correction rate of approx. 1.5% of GDP to stabilize the debt at just over 50% of GDP by 2024, says the president of the Fiscal Council, Daniel Daianu.

The annual inflation rate went up to 5.3 pct in August 2021, from 5 pct in July, given that non-food stuffs were more expensive by 7.92 pct, foodstuffs by 2.7 pct, and services by 2.97 pct, according to data published on Friday by the National Institute for Statistics (INS). According to the INS, consumer prices in August 2021 compared to July 2021 increased by 0.2 pct.

Romania's FOB/CIF seven-month trade balance deficit widened to 12.864 billion euros, by 2.858 million euros more from the year-ago period, as imports advanced 25.4 percent and exports 24.8 percent, according to data released on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). January - July FOB exports totaled 42.511 billion euros, and CIF imports stood at 55.376 billion euros.

Blue Air announced the launch of services from its new base in northeastern Iasi, starting with next summer and is offering direct and connecting flights to over 23 destinations, according to a release of the company. Blue Air will have one Boeing 737-8-MAX at its headquarters in Iasi and will operate 8 direct flights and over 15 connecting flights in Iasi.

The national currency has depreciated on Thursday compared to the euro, continuing, practically, its descending trend started last week, the internal political situation having no influence on the exchange rate, believes Adrian Codirlasu, deputy chair of the CFA Romania Association. "The course depreciated a little. Practically it continued the depreciation trend started last week.

The foreign currency reserves of the National Bank of Romania clocked in, at the end of August 2021, at 41.616 billion euro, an increase by 6.68 pct over the level of 39.008 billion euro recorded on July 31, 2021, the central bank announced on Wednesday.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Romania advanced 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, to 5.1%, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced on Wednesday. According to INS, the male unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points higher than the female unemployment rate.

The Finance Ministry does not agree that the recipients of early retirement or partial early retirement pension also collect a wage, because this would have an extraordinarily high budgetary impact, Finance Minister Dan Vilceanu said Monday after the government meeting. "We didn't agree with this proposal and consequently we made some observations.

The draft budget amendment weakens the budgetary consolidation as it was announced for 2021, the Fiscal Council said on Thursday night, in a release.

The implementation of Romania's aggregate national budget in the first seven months of 2021 ended with a government deficit of 33.97 billion lei (2.89% of GDP), down from 49.68 billion lei (4.71% of GDP) seven months into 2020, the Finance Ministry announced on Thursday.