Andreea Marinescu

Romania closed 2018 with a general consolidated budget deficit of 2.88 percent of GDP, the same as in 2017, shows data released by the Ministry of Public Finance on Monday.

The budget deficit is thus below the target of 2.97 pct of GDP set by the authorities.

Carmaker Dacia had in 2018 the best commercial performance in its history, with sales on the domestic and international market totaling 700,798 units, up 7 pct from the previous year, the car manufacturer said in a release on Friday.

The annual inflation rate declined slightly, to 3.3 percent in December 2018, from 3.4 percent in November, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics on Monday.

The annual inflation rate is thus below the 3.5 percent forecast of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) announced for 2018.

The General Council of 'Unitatea' - Metro Free Trade Union (USLM) decided on Tuesday to postpone the launch of the general strike until after a first meeting with the new Transport Minister, informs USLM.

The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) on Wednesday's meeting decided to keep unchanged the monetary policy rate at 2.50 percent per annum, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES.

Romania-based companies operating in sectors such as HoReCa, processing, light manufacturing, agriculture, construction and services have hired in recent years foreigners from non-EU states, most of them hailing from countries with a standard of living below Romania's, shows a Smartree survey.

Seven million Romanian contributors have 12.9 percent less in their retirement saving accounts because of the non-observance of the Pillar II contributions increase calendar, which resulted in the loss of both the money promised under law and of the money multiplication effect, argue Romanian Business Leaders (RBL) representatives.

The Board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) has decided to raise the benchmark interest rate to 2.5 pct from 2.25 pct per annum beginning 8 May, a release by the central bank sent to AGERPRES on Monday informs.

The key rate has been unchanged since February 2018, when it was raised to 2.25 pct per annum.

The annual inflation rate went up to 5 percent in March 2018, from 4.7 percent in the previous month, on the grounds of non-food product prices going up by 6.57 percent, those of food products by 4.01 percent, and those of services by 2.9 percent.

A higher annual inflation rate was registered in June 2013, when consumer prices went up 5.37 percent.

Bucharest and other 14 counties will be under code orange of heavy snowfall on Thursday night, while 16 counties will be under the code yellow of abundant snowfall starting Thursday afternoon, according to warnings issued Wednesday by the National Weather Administration (ANM).