News archive of March 2020

Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov told a press conference on Tuesday that in the worst-case scenario, the Bulgarian economy could shrink by three per cent in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"If the period of isolation continues for three months in total, our economy will recover by the end of 2021," Goranov said.

Today, the Commission has issued new practical advice to ensure that mobile workers within the EU, in particular those in critical occupations to fight the coronavirus pandemic, can reach their workplace. This includes but is not limited to those working in the health care and food sectors, and other essential services like childcare, elderly care, and critical staff for utilities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey is sending aid to Italy and Spain, Europe's most hard-hit countries, during their fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT) on March 31 introduced new measures to limit the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The steps aimed to back monetary transmission mechanisms, banks' flexibility in liquidity management, uninterrupted credit flows to the corporate sector, and firms exporting goods and services.

As many as 2,245 people in Romania have so far been confirmed as infected with the novel coronavirus, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS), an official coronavirus communication task force, reported on Tuesday. Since the previous report, 293 new cases of illness have been recorded.

Three more Romanians infected with the novel coronavirus, namely two in France and one in the UK, have died abroad, and the number of Romanian citizens abroad who tested positive for COVID-19 stands at 94, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS) informs.

A former military officer, who was wounded 10 years ago after a counter-terrorism military operation, is producing traditional and historical war tools in a workshop he established in the Aegean province of Manisa.

Fatih Altanay, 37, developed interest in building traditional combat devices after he left the Turkish Armed Forces.

As Turkish citizens have locked themselves in their homes to avoid getting infected with the novel coronavirus, marching bands of some local authorities have started giving street concerts in order to boost their morale.

A young woman who was found dead on Monday by night in Paleokastro, a suburb north of Thessaloniki, appears to have died from a fall, police said on Tuesday.

According to investigators in the northern port city, the unnamed 20-year-old seems to have been walking her dog in the vicinity of a disused mine when she tumbled at least 50 meters down a rocky slope.

In 2018, around 672 300 persons acquired citizenship of one of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), down from 700 600 in 2017 and 843 900 in 2016.