TODAY’S NEWS
ECONOMY & COMPANIES
-Alpha Bank Romania, one of the ten largest banks in the country, posted EUR11 million net profit in the first quarter of 2023, while its assets stood at EUR4.4 billion, up 13% y-o-y. The lender in in talks with telecommunications group Orange over buying Orange Money IFN Romania, Ziarul Financiar reported citing financial market sources.
–Venture capital funds Innova/7, Booster Capital, GapMinder II and Morphosis Capital II will get up to EUR 80 million financing through Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to fund at least thirty companies in development, as well as technology, manufacturing FMCG, B2B and B2C services and healthcare startups.
–The largest initial public offering (IPO) of a company on a Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) stock exchange since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine is now underway in Romania in a potential EUR80 million Agricover deal.
–Romanians abroad sent over $9 billion into the country as personal remittances in 2021, reaching record level for the last 30 years, World Bank data showed.
–The investment potential of the green power market (solar panels, heat pumps, insulation) in Romania stands at more than EUR30 billion by 2040 as 1.1 to 1.7 million households could install each of the three solution. About EUR20 billion of that could come from banks, according to consultancy firm McKinsey & Company Romania.
–Online Recruitment platform eJobs Romania turnover worth stood at almost EUR15 million in 2022 with a number of 420,000 jobs posted, in the best year in the company’s history.
–The total net amount received by Romania from the European Union, since its accession amounts to 56 billion euros, according to the Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE).
–Local agro-food industry producers can resume the export of certain meat products to the US after the American authorities noted that the products meet quality standards, Romania’s National Sanitary Veterinary Authority announced.
–The National Bank of Romania kept its key monetary policy rate unchanged at 7% for a third consecutive meeting on Wednesday (May 10), in line with market expectations and after raising borrowing costs by 575bps since October 2021.
TODAY’S MARKET
EXCHANGE RATES
| EUR 4.9221 | GBP 5.6700 |
| USD 4.4922 | CHF 4.0439 |
| BGN 2.5166 | MDL 0.2500 |
BNR INTEREST RATES
| Deposit facility: | 6% |
| Policy rate: | 7% |
| Lending facility: | 8% |
INFLATION RATE
| 14.53% (March 2023) BNR Target 2022: 2.50% (variation band: ± 1pp) |
BUCHAREST STOCK EXCHANGE (BVB) INDICES
| BET -0.04%, BET-TR -0.04%, BET-FI -0.36%, BET-NG 0.09%, BET-XT –0.07%, BETXT-TR –0.07%, BET-BK -0.07%, RO-TX -0.29%, BETAeRO -0.18% |
CAPITAL MARKET COMMENTARY
| Bucharest stocks traded in the red on Wednesday in line with rest of Europe after European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde and Bundesbank’s head Joachim Nagel both confirmed the Eurozone’s main financial institution will introduce more raises of interest rates in the future. |
