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Raiffeisen Bank Romania, one of the leading lenders on the local market, has not yet foreclosed on any customer unable to repay their loan and has not sold any receivable, said President Steven van Groningen in an exclusive interview to BURSA.

According to Social-Democratic leaders, the news that current president Traian Băsescu, would consider giving up running for a new presidential mandate in autumn this year, has zero credibility.

The usage of European funding from the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) exceeds 33% in Centre Region.

The second segment of the Braşov beltway will be open for traffic within two months at the latest, the contractors said.

At Interop Las Vegas 2009, HP and Microsoft today announced a four-year strategic global initiative to deliver an end-to-end unified communications and collaboration solution.

The economic recession, an unavoidable phenomenon that the world economic crisis has only accelerated, has reached Romania as well.

According to the results of IMAS"s recent poll, regarding Romanian private medical service providers, Medlife grabbed the top spot when it comes to notoriety among Romanian consumers.

The ongoing economic crisis is also affecting the Romanian IT industry as sales have embarked on a notably downward trend compared to last year.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has announced plans to start producing AIDS medication in Brasov, Romania, in the second half of the year and begin exports in 2011.

The collapse of Romania"s exports this year has been substantially augmented by the inefficiency of the governmental and banking measures as the fall of the international markets is only a partial explanation for the failure, according to...

Dan Gabriel Iacob, CEO of Biosens: "The bio market in Romania will not suffer too much because of the crisis, because this is a niche market that develops independently from economic troubles.

The budgets of the energy companies controlled by the Ministry of Economy will be approved latest next week.

The negotiations between the union and the management of the company IAR Ghimbav concerning the reorganization plan are currently under way. The first numbers concerning the staff layoffs were announced on Wednesday.

Petru Prunea, the former chairman of "Broker" Cluj Napoca (BRK), presented his objections to the accusations of the National Securities Commission (CNVM), through an appeal filed with the commission in the beginning of this month.

The sale of the Romsilva lodges is probably one of the most controversial projects of the current Government.

Representatives of the German-based group PCC SE, a significant shareholder in chemical plant Oltchim - Ramnicu Valcea (BSE ticker OLT), believe that the plant"s intention to invest 486 million EUR in expanding the production capacity of...

Technical work on the proposed Nabucco cross-country gas pipeline is entering an "intensive phase," according to the pipeline consortium"s chief.

Braşov-based INAR SA last year posted 40,000 lei in profit, for a turnover of 1.1 million lei, and it has budgeted 1.4 million lei in turnover for this year, and 60,000 lei in profit, on top of investing around 150,000 lei in equipment.

Life insurer ING Asigurari de Viata concluded the first three months of the year with a gross profit of 31.3 million RON, up five-fold from the first quarter of 2008.

Gross subscribed premiums rose 17.5% YOY in Q1 2009, to 23.8 million lei.

The annual inflation rate dropped to 6.45% in April, down from 6,71% in March, in line with economists" and the Central Bank"s estimates, as a result of the cut in prices for services and a stagnation of foodstuffs prices, according to...

The Export - Import Bank of Romania EximBank S.A. and Emporiki Bank yesterday signed an agreement to facilitate the access of small- and medium-sized enterprises to financing, according to a press release.

Lufthansa has reported a slight decrease in the number of passengers transported in Q1 to a little over 15 million, down by 6% from the corresponding period of 2008.

Europe has fallen into a deep recession and there is a risk that it may worsen because of collapsing confidence in the region and the global demand decline, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.

On Wednesday, the European Commission will launch the excessive deficit procedure against Romania, Malta, Poland and Lithuania for exceeding the budget deficit limit of 3% of the GDP, set by the Maastricht agreement, which is a requirement for...

The law endorsing the Government"s emergency ordinance on the budget rectification is constitutional, the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) ruled yesterday.

The Romanian pharmaceutical market grew 22.5% y/y in the first quarter of 2009, reaching 1,990.2 million RON or approximately 466.5 million EUR according to the market researcher Cegedim.

The accounts of the Authority for State Assets Recovery are being periodically emptied by the disbursements made to the victims of the National Investment Fund (FNI), which AVAS being barely able to get the money needed for paying the wages of...

The no-confidence motion headlined "The Great PDL-PSD Hoax," signed by 124 MPs of the PNL and UDMR against the "abusive" measures taken by the ruling coalition - deconcentrated services and the lump sum tax - was presented...

The Finance Ministry yesterday sold three-month discount bonds in the amount of 1.749 billion RON, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) announced.

The completion of the restoration and modernization works of the spa resort, which was built over a hundred years ago, caused the turnover of the company "Staţiunea Ocna" SA, (the operator of the resort), to grow to EUR 1.6 million, in 2008.

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) has unveiled a new 12-month RON-denominated deposit with a fixed interest rate of 14% p.a. available as of 11 May.

The assembled Chamber of Deputies rejected yesterday, after a ballot with 137 votes in favor, 51 against and 9 abstentions, the request of the Commission for Investigating Abuse, Corruption and Petitions on the creation of a commission for...

Owners of office space in Bucharest are beginning to experience some cold sweat as the occupancy rate plunged a worrisome 31% in Q1 compared to both Q4 and Q1 of 2008.

Adrian Vasilescu, advisor to the Governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), explained late last week that the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (i.e. 12.95 billion EUR) would not lead to lending relaxation in Romania.

The Government convened for an extraordinary meeting yesterday, adopted the decentralization strategy for Health Care and approved the regulations for the decentralization of athletic activities, as well as a draft law regulating the...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed its willingness to get involved in funding software or industrial parks and digital cities, and also agreed to extend its funding of the projects of the Romanian National Post...

The Minister of Development, Democrat-Liberal Vasile Blaga, announced that Prime Minister Boc issued an ultimatum to a Social-Democrat Minister during Monday"s government meeting, because the Minister in question criticized the...

Fertilizer producer Azomureş (AZO) made a net profit of 2 million lei in Q1 2009, meaning a 27 times drop YOY, according to quarterly earnings published on Friday, as published by NewsIn.

President Traian Băsescu, said to members of the Liberal-Democratic Party who attended the inauguration of the candidates for the European Parliament, that they should not use the crisis as an excuse for postponing the reform of the state.

"Transilvania" Financial investment company (SIF3) posted a net profit of only 4.01 million lei, for Q1 2009, down 67% YOY, from 12.15 million lei, according to the financial statements published on Friday.