POLITICS
-The Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, Cseke Attila, told a press conference in Bistrita on Friday that approximately 95% of the projects submitted during the three calls for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are eligible, and in three cases payments have already been made to the local public authorities.
-Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu told a press conference that Pension Pillar 2 should not be dismantled, even if such a system can only be found in Venezuela, but considers that legislation in the field of private insurance needs to be developed, Agerpres reported.
-Minister of Education Sorin Cimpeanu said on Friday in the city of Ramnicu Valcea that the modifications proposed by the new draft laws on education will only have results through the allocation of financial resources, with about 50 percent of the budget necessary for the implementation of the measures envisaged needed for the appropriate remuneration of teaching staff.
ECONOMY
-Romania’s three-month ROBOR index, the interbank interest rate used as a reference to calculate variable interests for loans in lei taken out before May 2019, has dropped further 7.98% on Friday (August 12) from 8.02% a year on Thursday (August 11), National Bank of Romania (BNR) data showed.
-Foreign direct investments increased by 21.47% in the first half of this year, to 4.379 billion euros, compared to 3.605 billion euros in the same period a year ago, according to BNR data.
COMPANIES & MARKET
-Four of the ten largest players in the automotive sector in Romania -namely Star Assembly, Pirelli Tyers Romania, Continental Automotive Systems and Dacia Automobile- are planning investments of more than RON1.7 billion, for which they applied for state aid of RON82 milion to RON185 million, Ziarul Financiar reported.
-The five best-selling bottled mineral water brands in Romania had a combined market share of 78.7% by value in 2021, according to market research company Market Vektor data.
