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Our maverick minister of Finance, Sebastian Vlădescu, who is a biking aficionado, hired Dan Bittman, the lead singer of Holograf, as advisor on citizen issues, in order to handle direct contact with people.

The Romanian currency reached a new nine month high against the Euro, with the Central Bank posting a reference exchange rate of 4.1215 lei/euro.

Greece and Portugal face a high risk of an economic "slow death", rating firm Moody"s says, as most of the revenues of the two countries go towards paying off their debts.

RED Group yesterday announced that Immorent Romania, part of Erste Group AG, has financed the first Cadran retail center, which is under development in Huşi.

Sorin Oprescu, the mayor of the city, yesterday summoned a meeting with the mayors of the city"s districts, debating the investment projects proposed for 2010, taxes, as well as issues pertaining to local administration.

A number of 133,362 companies have suspended their operations in 2009, 11 times more than last year, according to the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC).

The European Commission will most likely launch infringement procedures against Greece, due to unreliability of the statistics issued by the Greek authorities on budget deficit and the country"s debts, according to European sources.

The Romanian National Bank missed its inflation target for 2009, for the third year straight, with prices rising 4.74% last year.

• The bank is also reviewing direct capital investments in Romanian companies, as well as agribusiness projects  

The Court of Iaşi has ruled in favor of SIF Moldova and decided to cancel the share capital increase at ArcelorMittal Tubular Products SA Iaşi, with the decision made in the extraordinary meeting of the board of June 15th 2009, according to a...

The exchange rate yesterday for the Euro fell to an eight month low against the leu, mostly due to favorable sentiment of foreign investors in the region.

Fertilizer industry is facing a new issue in the beginning of the year, - lack of domestically produced gas needed for fertilizer production, producers say.

The intention of the Government to restrict the "First Home" program to new homes will deepen the deadlock of the real estate market, officials of (APAIR), the Professional Association of Romanian Realtors says.

The priorities of the EIB in terms of financing for Romania remain unchanged this year.

Gutmann Bank, the Austrian financial institution specializing in private banking has just received the license from the Romanian Securities Commission, at the end of 2009, said Ilinca Von Derenthall.

By autumn 2010, the Sibiu Derivatives Exchange plans to raise around 5 million Euros from its shareholders in order to raise the share capital for an Initial Public Offer, even though it has decided to launch its own stock exchange on January 22nd.

The joint houses of the Parliament will begin debating today the drafts of the Law of the State Budget and the draft of the law on Social Security for 2010, after last week Senators and Deputies submitted thousands of amendments.

The average price of electricity traded in 2009, on the spot market (PZU), managed by OPCOM, was 145.07 lei/MWh, down 23% over the average price for 2008.

"Visa Europe" has allocated over one million Euros for the campaign to encourage card payments in Romania.

German discount supermarket chain "Lidl", part of German retail group Schwarz, is interested in acquiring the chain of stores its German competitor Plus owns in Romania and Bulgaria, according to Agerpres.

Dacia"s LPG based Sandero model, has been very successful in France since its launch last year, with it sales having exceeded 14,000 units at the end of November 2009, or 35% of the total of Sandero vehicles sold, according to NewsIn.

The price of Gold yesterday posted its largest drop for 2010 so far, due to the appreciation of the dollar, - a trend which Generates a lower appetite for commodities.

The decision to "freeze" the contribution to 2nd pillar mandatory pension funds to 2% in 2009 has capped the growth of funds" assets and the net earnings generated by the system, according to a press release of the Romanian...

Major foreign investors have intensified negotiations with Romanian railway companies lately.

The situation seems to be worsening in Greece, especially after an official of the European Central Bank warned that the European Union would not help Greece cut its deficit and public debt.

The members of the joint Public Administration Commissions of the two houses of the Parliament yesterday unanimously approved the budget for the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism (MDRT), together with all the proposed amendments.

A new residential complex will be built on Baicului street no.51, the mayoralty of the second district announced yesterday, after mayor Neculai Onţanu issued the building permit.

Romania"s National Bank yesterday decided to cut the policy rate by 0.5% to 7.5% per annum, and to maintain the existing level of minimum reserve requirement ratios on both leu- and foreign currency-denominated liabilities of credit...

The IMF will most likely revise upward its forecasts on the growth of the global economy which seems to be recovering faster than anticipated, IMF first deputy managing director John Lipsky said.

The National Company Henri Coandă Bucharest International Airport (AIHCB) posted a turnover of approximately 280 million lei at the end of November 2009, around 3% higher compared to November 2008.

Santa visited "BURSA", bringing with him lots of joy and a goodie bag bigger than ever, in spite of the difficult times.

The evolution of the cost of borrowing for all types of loans followed mainly a downward trend, according to Ruxandra Andrei, Manager at Finzoom Financial Services.

20.12.2009 On the political stage, we find that the political agreement signed between PD-L and UDMR, the current governing parties, is valid until the elections for the parliament of 2012.

Officials of the Ministry of Development yesterday announced, in a press release, that, in the case of the sale/rental of apartments built before 2007, energy performance certificates can be obtained without requiring the energy auditing of the...

The majority of Romanians offer sweets as gifts for the winter holidays, instead of buying durable presents, according to a recent study by research institute "GfK" Romania.

"Danone" SA, the world"s largest yogurt maker, will take over the 45% stake its partner "Clover" holds in the "Danone Clover" joint venture - a dairy and dessert maker of South Africa, thus becoming a sole shareholder.

Retailers that resort to unfair commercial practices may pay fines three times as high from now, according to a bill passed by the Senate yesterday.

Despite the difficult situation of Greece and Austria, whose degree of leverage weighs heavily on their banking systems, officials of the Romanian National Banks insist that Romanian banks are solid and absolutely unaffected by what"s...

Bank of Cyprus bought 9.7% of the shares of "Banca Transilvania", according to a press release sent yesterday to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, after rumors that a European bank would become a shareholder of Banca Transilvania have been...

Elections for the top position of the Brokers" Association are scheduled for today, with the two runners being Dan Paul, the current chairman and Septimiu Stoica, the president of the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM).