GfK: Romanians Confident That Their Income Prospects Will Improve
Romanians are confident that their income prospects will improve but this has not yet had a major impact on willingness to buy, as Romanian consumers need all their available income for everyday living expenses and have little money left over for major purchases, according to a GfK study.
“The Romanian economy recorded strong growth over the past year. However, it took some time for consumers to feel confident in the upswing. Accordingly, economic expectations fluctuated between – 17 points and – 10 points over the first half of 2014. In the second half – year, the belief in a sustained upturn gradually strengthened. By December, doubts appeared to have dwindled and the indicator jumped from 9.3 points to 17.7 points,“ according to the findings of the GfK study.
Thus, Romanian consumers were much quicker to develop faith that their own income prospects would improve. In December, the indicator was at 15.7 points, and therefore climbed to its highest value since October 2008. (Curierul National)
Government To Approve New Tax Code March 18-25
The Romanian government will discuss the draft Tax Code again in view of approving it in the interval March 18-25, Finance Minister Darius Valcov said Wednesday during the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The draft, which proposes a series of tax cuts and fiscal relaxation measures, was first discussed by the Cabinet last week.
“Besides slight criticism from those who claimed they have a better program but they don’t – there’s nobody in Romania with a better program than ours – it is important that, after three years of work, we could cut the VAT and take all these measures, but most of all, we have a very clear strategy and plan of economic development over the medium and long term,” PM Victor Ponta stated in the Cabinet meeting.
The government estimates the planned tax cuts will lower budget revenues by more than RON37 billion but hopes to make up for half of this amount with positive effects in the economy.
The International Monetary Fund has advised caution. (Puterea)
WHO Calls For Urgent Measles Vaccination Measures In Europe
World Health Organization (WHO) asked European states to take urgent measures to vaccinate against measles, in order to destroy the outbreaks and fulfill the goal of eliminating the disease.
More than 22,000 cases of measles have been reported in seven countries of Europe, including Italy, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past year.
According to WHO representatives, this threatens the region’s goal of eliminating the disease by the end of 2015.
“When we consider that over the past two decades we have seen a reduction of 96 percent in the number of measles cases in the European Region, and that we are just a step away from eliminating the disease, we are taken aback by these numbers. We must collectively respond, without further delay, to close immunization gaps,” Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in a statement.(Romania Libera)
Elena Udrea Placed Under Preventive Arrest In Boxing Gala Case
Romanian MP and former minister of regional development and tourism Elena Udrea was arrested again for 30 days on Wednesday under charges of bribery and abuse of office related to the illegal financing of a boxing gala.
Early this week, Udrea spoke in the Chamber of Deputies about the difficult conditions she had to face under arrest, trying to convince deputies to vote against the prosecutors’ request for her arresting again.
Udrea complained that she was taken to a very small cell, which had no door at the toilet entrance and that she had to use a plastic bottle as a toilet seat, that there was no hairdryer, and that they even took her bra. (Adevarul)
Romanian Government Adopts National Strategy For Tuberculosis Control
The Romanian government on Wednesday adopted the National Strategy for Tuberculosis Control for 2015-2020, aiming to reduce incidence and mortality caused by tuberculosis, by providing services of prevention, tracking, diagnose, and treatment.
According to a Health Ministry statement, Romania is the EU country with the highest incidence of tuberculosis, fourfold higher than the EU average, and has one of the lowest healing rates in EU.
The strategy adopted by the Government also targets to provide conditions for eliminating tuberculosis from the list of public health issues in Romania by 2050. (Adevarul)