Mariana Nica

Bucharest, Dec 4 /Agerpres/ - The Ambassador of the United States of America (USA) to Romania, Adrian Zuckerman, announced on Thursday, during a visit to Portile de Fier [ed.n.- Iron Gate Hydroelectric Power Station], the intention of Exim Bank US to support strategic investments in Romania and to ensure lines of credit of about 7 billion US dollars.

Arrivals recorded in the tourist accommodation units in October 2020 have totaled 493,100, a drop of 54.4 pct over those in October 2019, foreign tourists representing 5 pct, according to data from the National Institute for Statistics (INS) sent on Thursday to AGERPRES.

Romania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.3 percent this October, up 0.2 percentage points from September's rate of 5.1 percent, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) said on Wednesday. The estimated number of unemployed (aged 15-74) in October 2020 was 477,000, up from 455,000 registered in September 2020, as well as from the same month of the previous year (350,000).

Romania has issued, under the RAPEX system, seven alerts for non-compliant masks on the market coming from China, which bear the CE marking, according to the European Commission's rapid alert system for non-food products. The products bear a CE marking but are not certified as protective equipment by a relevant body.

The budget deficit increases up to 90.9 billion lei following the budget rectification, an amount that represents 8.6% of GDP, so that the deficit is currently 50 billion lei higher against December 2019, when the budget for the current year was adopted, the Minister of Public Finance, Florin Citu, stated on Friday, in the beginning of the gov't meeting.

Government's healthcare outlays have increased throughout the year by about 45% on the initial budget and if necessary we will allocate additional resources, Finance Minister Florin Citu told a news conference on Thursday on budget revision.

Romanian nationals working in the meat industry in Germany will sign, from January 1, 2021, employment contracts directly with the German employers, and not with companies that intermediate jobs, Romania's Minister of Labour and Social Protection Violeta Alexandru wrote on Thursday on Facebook.

German authorities will step up checks of German employers hiring Romanian workers and increase penalties for employers' offences, German Labour and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil and his Romanian counterpart Violeta Alexandru said on Thursday in a joint statement at the end of a videoconference they had during the day.

A new ferry crossing point at the border between Romania and Ukraine has become operational, Romania's National Road Infrastructure Management Company (CNAIR) has announced, adding that the first to cross the new point on Wednesday by ferry were international freight trucks from Isaccea.

Bureau Veritas and the Romanian Hotel Industry Federation (FIHR) on Wednesday launched a health safety standard to support the hotel and restaurant industry to show compliance with best practices in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus, informs a company statement sent to AGERPRES.