Adriana Saftoiu Appointed Spokeswoman For The Democratic Liberal Party
Former liberal MP Adriana Saftoiu was elected Monday to be the opposition Democratic Liberal Party’s spokeswoman, party president Vasile Blaga announced.
Saftoiu is a former presidential adviser and was part of the Democratic Party before joining liberals.
Saftoiu, a former journalist, headed the Democratic Party’s press office in 2001-2004. (Evenimentul Zilei)
Economic Operators And Homeowners In Mamaia To Pay Resort Promotion Tax
Economic operators and homeowners in the Black Sea resort of Mamaia will be levied a resort promotion tax of RON100 to RON4,000 a year, Constanta mayor Radu Mazare said Monday.
Mazare said the introduction of the tax will be approved in the local council’s next meeting.
He added 30% of the tax collections will go into promoting the beach resort and the rest will go to the local employers’ association. (Romania Libera)
BCR Denies Interest In Acquiring Bank of Cyprus Romania, Raiffeisen Pulls Bid
Romania’s largest bank Banca Comerciala Romana, or BCR, said it has no interest in acquiring the local unit of Bank of Cyprus, dismissing market rumors on a possible deal, while Raiffeisen Bank has pulled its bid, sources on the market said.
“BCR has dismissed any interest in a transaction involving Bank of Cyprus,” said Ionut Stanimir, head of PR at the bank.
Market participants said earlier this month that BCR had expressed interest in taking over both the local unit of Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Bank, a subsidiary of Cyprus’ second largest lender Cyprus Popular Bank. The latter will be dismantled as per a EUR10 billion loan agreement with international creditors.
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, which also showed interest in buying the local subsidiary of Bank of Cyprus, has reportedly withdrawn its offer after the Cypriot lender decided to suspend the operations in Romania unit until April 22, two weeks later than initially announced.
A third local bank that expressed its wish to take over Bank of Cyprus Romania, namely Banca Transilvania, filed a non-binding offer last week. (Jurnalul National)
Romania Central Bank Injects RON178.4M Into Market
Romania’s central bank Monday injected RON178.4 million into the money market in a one-week repurchasing agreement operation, the lowest amount since June 2011.
The central bank bought treasuries from two lenders and will sell them back April 15. The interest rate was 5.25%, equal to the monetary policy rate.
Last week, the central bank pumped RON2.2 billion into the market via a similar operation.
Scarce demand at Monday’s auction was due to a liquidity surplus in the money market. Weekly rates were at 2.1%-2.6% a year on Monday morning. (Curierul National)
Romanian Health Ministry Cuts Public Health Insurance Funding For Dental Care
The Romanian Health Ministry has lowered funds for public dental care this year and patients, including children and underprivileged social categories will have to pay for all dental services, as they are no longer covered by public health insurance.
The National Health Insurance House said Monday the decision to cut funding for dental care in 2013 was made by the Health Ministry, which is the policymaker.
Minister Eugen Nicolaescu confirmed the budget cut but added authorities will try to find solutions at the budget revision scheduled this summer. (Romania Libera)
Florin Cioaba Elected Head Of International Organization Of Roma
The self-proclaimed king of Roma in Romania, Florin Cioaba, was elected Monday president of the International Organization of Roma.
Cioaba, who had a challenger from Poland, was elected with 22 votes in favor, three against and three abstentions.
Roma leaders in 35 European states have met in the central Romanian city of Sibiu to elect leaders of their International Organization of Roma. According to the organization’s by-laws, each participant country has one vote. (Puterea)