Svitolina Wins On Buzarnescu Retirement At Rogers Cup
Defending Rogers Cup champion Elina Svitolina moved into the third round via retirement after Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu suffered an ankle injury in the deciding set of their clash and was forced to leave court in a wheelchair.
No.3 seed Elina Svitolina’s Rogers Cup title defence remains alive, although her victory over Buzarnescu was bittersweet: deep in an enthralling decider, the Romanian went over on her ankle and was forced to retire trailing 6-3, 6-7(5), 4-3.
As the seventh game progressed, Svitolina had the lead but as Buzarnescu went for the ball, she injured her ankle and writhed in pain for minutes sending both the umpire and Svitolina to her attention. The physio came out to check out the injury to her right leg and with her still in an immense amount of pain, the match ended with her unfortunate retirement. Buzarnescu was helped onto a wheelchair and assisted off the court.
With the match concluding by default, Svitolina would move into the round of 16 facing the winner between Victoria Azarenka and Johanna Konta. (romanialibera.ro)
Romania Central Bank Revises 2018 Inflation Forecast Down to 3.5%
Romania’s central bank on Wednesday revised its year-end inflation forecast to 3.5% from a previous projection of 3.6%, but warned inflationary pressures remain.
“Inflationary pressures remain. We have won a battle, not the war. Production costs have increased and need to be counterbalanced with productivity. Energy costs and labor costs have increased. In time, they can be digested by the economy and society but the central bank is obligated to warn about them. These are fundamental balances that we need to keep,” central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said at the presentation of the central bank’s inflation report.
Romania’s central bank sees the annual inflation rate declining in the third quarter, remaining above the variation band of the target, before dropping more visibly in the final months of 2018 towards the upper bound of the 1.5%-3.5% target band.
It expects inflation to remain within the target variation band in the next two years, save for external shocks, said Isarescu.
The central bank also revised the 2019 year-end inflation forecast to 2.7% from a previous projection of 3%. (puterea.ro)
Leu Gains Slightly Versus Euro, Exchange Rate At 4.6426
The Romanian leu appreciated slightly against the euro and the central bank set the leu’s reference rate versus the euro at 4.6426 units on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the leu fell to 4.6428 versus the euro.
Against the US dollar, the leu strengthened at 4.0024 units on Wednesday, compared with 4.0055 units on Tuesday.
The leu also appreciated against the Swiss franc on Wednesday, touching 4.0218 units, from 4.0255 units a day before. (romanialibera.ro)
PSD-ALDE Leaders To Announce Candidate For 2019 Presidential Election On October 15
The deputy secretary general of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Codrin Stefanescu, on Wednesday said the leaders of PSD-ALDE ruling coalition will announce on October 15 whether it will have separate candidates at 2019 presidential elections or whether the two parties will have a joint candidate ”who will win the first round”.
Stefanescu said „there will be two variants and a report will be unveiled on October 15. The <PSD candidate>, the <ALDE candidate> variant and the <PSD+ALDE – joint candidate> variant.
Social democrat head Liviu Dragnea said on July 22 that PSD and ALDE could have a single candidate at next year’s presidential elections, a candidate who might represent either PSD or ALDE. (romanialibera.ro)