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The European funds who were the most affected by the economic crisis were net beneficiaries of European funds, Cătălin Păuna, senior economist of the Bucharest Office of the World Bank, said yesterday.

Reporter: How do you view the evolution of the Romanian economy last year?

Small and medium enterprises (IMM) would have to borrow at higher costs than the government, because their credibility is lower than that of the state, Mihai Bogza, board member on the Council of Foreign Investors said yesterday, at a round table...

The Eurozone can survive even if Greece were forced to leave the monetary union, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, according to Dutch publication Volkskrant.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the leader of the Eurogroup, yesterday said that the Franco-German proposal to set aside bailout funds for Greece in a special account to cover interest payments on its massive debt was "not an absurd one".

Ratings firm Fitch Ratings downgraded "Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena" SpA and "Banco Popolare" SC of Italy, as a result of the country's downgrade, last month.

On his quick visit to the US in September 2011, Traian Băsescu signed the agreement concerning the placing of parts of the missile shield in Romania, precisely to prevent an attack from Iran.

According to "conspiracy theorists", the appointed Prime Minister Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu was backed for this position just as things are heating up in Syria and Iran.

The head of the Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, who was in Damascus yesterday for a meeting with president Bashar al-Assad, was acclaimed by thousands of Syrians who gathered to express their thanks to Russia.

The price of Brent crude, traded on the London Energy Exchange, yesterday climbed to a six-month high, above 116 dollars/barrel, amid the threats of Iran that it would prohibit the export of crude oil to some European countries.

Ioana Sfîrăială has sued "Erste Bank" and the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) for failing to honor their obligation to take BCR public, which was stipulated in the privatization contract.

The first meeting of the new Board of Directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange was scheduled for Thursday, February 9th, one month after the General Shareholder Meeting when the elections were held (ed. note: January 9th).

The Austrians of OMV are negotiating with Russia the sale of the shares which they own in "OMV Petrom" - over 51% of the share capital - said engineer Mihai Macsim, the general manager of the Romanian Russian Chamber of Commerce and Trade...

This year will be dedicated to projects initiated in the public-private partnership system, where each party - the public and the private one alike knows what it has to do, said Andrea Paul Vass, state advisor to the former prime minister.

The resignation of the current government could represent a solution to the problems and does not amount to an economic imbalance, former Finance minister and economist Daniel Dăianu said yesterday.

A PM needs political support, from a strong party or from a coalition, and a technocrat would find it hard to do a "balancing act" while being in office and to appease "all the hopes, interests and needs of the people in the...

The resignation of PM Emil Boc should have happened a long time ago, not now, because it may be too late now for such an action, Liviu Apos-toiu, the vice-president of union CNS "Cartel Alfa" said yesterday.

The Boc government left, but the protests will go on.

It is said that Emil Boc handed in his resignation.

The problem of compensating those whose assets were seized by the communist regime is far from solved, and lawyers and their clients are at the end of their wits. The state's shares in the Proprietatea Fund have been exhausted, and the law...

"Hidroelectrica" is in the final stage of the negotiations to raise the delivery prices by 20%-25% for the companies with which it concluded contracts for the sale of electricity, Dragoş Zachia, the general manager of the company says.

In December last year, the net banking assets amounted to 354 billion lei, higher than in September, when they amounted to 343.9 billion lei, according to information provided by the National Bank of Romania (NBR).

Sika Romania, which runs a concrete additives factory in Braşov, announced that it expects a 5% turnover increase this year, to 19 million Euros, after seeing an increase of 17% in 2011, to 18 million Euros.

When he was shoveling tens of millions of Euros in "Adevărul", Dinu Patriciu had the conceit of teaching us how to make money in newspaper publishing, by posting an article on January 7th, 2010, which was called just that: "The press...

The Boc government may be replaced after the conclusion of the visit of the IMF delegation (ed. note: after February 6th), political sources recently told us.

The Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS) is currently being funded using the earnings from the post-privatization earnings and from debt collection.

The EU regulator voted against the plan of Deutsche Börse and of NYSE Euronext to create the largest stock market in the world, after concluding that the merger would hurt competition, Bloomberg reports.

Last year, Banca Transilvania had a net profit of 131.87 million lei, up 35%, over 2011, according to the earnings of 2010, according to a press release by the bank.

Reporter: How big do you expect the demand for foreign stocks is among Romanian investors?

The shares of the Proprietatea Fund (symbol:FP) have been rising from the beginning of the year (ed. note: 21.42%, compared to a 10.3% rise for the BET index), rising above 0.5 lei/share yesterday, for the first time in the last six months.

I am in a very complicated situation: on one hand I applaud, admire and encourage the initiative of Radu Moraru to finance his TV station through a public subscription; on the other hand, I am convinced that this is an IPO in every possible way...

The mutual funds market evolved remarkably over the last three years, with assets increasing 8.4 times, to 7.9 billion lei on December 31st 2011, says Dan Nicu, President and CEO of BRD Asset Management SAI.

"Muntenia Imobiliare Development" has filed a lawsuit against the Romanian Commercial Bank, accusing it of stock market irregularities.

Reporter: In your opinion, how did our economy evolve last year, compared to 2010?

In just one night, December 31st became history, 2011 was left behind and 2012 entered the scene, and the ratings of TVR plummeted and those of Antena1, Kanal D and Prima soared.

The new ratings measurement system, which became functional in the beginning of this year, has brought changes in the rankings of the main Romanian TV stations.

The Iranian parliament is preparing a law which could prohibit oil exports to Europe immediately, in response to the embargo which the EU announced on Monday against Tehran.

The owners of "Polyus Gold International" Ltd. and "Polymetal International" Plc of Russia take into account the merger of the two mining companies in order to create the ninth largest producer of gold, sources close to the...

Last year, Intercapital Invest recorded trades with stocks and mutual fund shares on the regulated market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange of 522 million lei, up 6.3% over the previous year, according to a press release of the company.

This year will be excellent for the spring crops, due to the snow layer which covered Romania over the last few days, the minister of Agriculture, Valeriu Tabără, told us in an interview: "This year will be excellent for corn, for sunflower...

I don't remember any president of a Romanian bank having ever been received by Traian Băsescu at Cotroceni, and yet, it happened for the first time during the two terms of Traian Băsescu with Steven Cornelis van Groningen, the president of...