Another Social Democrat Leader Leaves Party
Lawmaker Catalin Radulescu on Monday resigned from the position of vice-president of Arges County branch of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD).
Cristian Gentea, the leader of PSD’s Pitesti branch, had also left the party.
“Mr. President Valeca, the president of PSD Arges, does not want to promote people from the county branch. He hates that, he does not want anybody important to get to Bucharest”, said Radulescu, at the meeting of the Executive Committee of PSD Pitesti.
The resignations were announced after several PSD leaders decided to forgo their positions within PSD Arges, as a protest against replacing the director of Arges public finance authority, Lucretiu Tudor, with Dumitru Braia, brought from Teleorman. (evz.ro)
Tennis Couple Irina Bara/Dalila Jakupovic Reaches Quarterfinals Of WTA Dubai Doubles
Tennis couple Irina Bara/Dalila Jakupovic (Romania/Slovenia) has qualified in the quarterfinals of Dubai doubles, after defeating couple Belinda Bencic/Daria Kasatkina (Switzerland/Russia), 2-6, 6-4, 11-9.
The game lasted one hour and 16 minutes.
The qualification secured Bara and Jakupovic a prize worth $9.510 and 105 points in WTA Doubles Ranking.
Bara and Jakupovic will further compete against couple Anna-Lena Groenfeld/Demi Schuurs (Germany/The Netherlands), 8th seeded, which defeated couple Mihaela Buzarnescu/Alicja Rosolska (Romania/Poland). (romanialibera.ro)
Central Bank Urges Government To Scrap Ordinance 114
Central bank officials on Monday urged the government to abrogate ordinance 114/2018, arguing it will affect the country’s economic stability, by overtaxing banks and the companies in the energy and communications sectors.
Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu recently said the tax on bank assets is an attack on the independence of the institution, as it hinders monetary policy.
“Government emergency decree 114/2018 is a failure to say the least, it’s a tax on monetary policy. (…) In case of an attack on the leu, if we raise interests, we kill banks,” Isarescu told members of the Senate’s budget and finance committees at a hearing last week.
In late December last year, the government introduced a tax on bank assets conditional on interbank interest rates. Banks will pay a progressive tax of 0.1%-0.5% of assets if money market rates exceed 2%. (puterea.ro)
All Money Market Rates Fall Monday
The three-month money market interest rate used to calculate interests for consumer loans in lei, fell to 3.14% a year on Monday, from 3.17% a year on Friday, central bank data showed.
The six-month money market rate, which is used to calculate interests on leu-denominated mortgage loans, dropped to 3.33% a year on Monday, from 3.35% a year on Friday.
The nine-month interbank rate, which is used to calculate interests on loans in lei attracted by commercial banks from other commercial banks for a nine-month period, decreased to 3.44% a year, from 3.47%.
The twelve-month index fell to 3.50% a year, from 3.52% a year. (romanialibera.ro)