Prime Minister Ponta To Run For President
The head of the Social Democratic Party Victor Ponta will run in the presidential election, according to informal talks at the party’s national executive board meeting.
Ponta will be proposed as the party’s presidential candidate at a party meeting on August 1 and the party congress of September 6-7 is expected to validate his candidacy.
Sources at the talks said Ponta is the only proposed presidential candidate. (Romania Libera)
Social Democrats Lose Majority In Bucharest City Council
General councilors Lucian Iliescu, of the Democratic Liberal Party, and Richard Ghita, of PPDD, are the new deputy mayors of Bucharest, voted by the new majority formed within the capital’s City Council, following the dismissal of Dan Darabont and Marcel Nicolaescu.
The city council meeting was called Monday following the regular meeting that was closed on lack of quorum, as general councilors of the Liberal and Democratic Liberal parties left the meeting room.
Although the Social Democratic Party and PPDD recently signed a collaboration protocol at the level of Parliament, social democrats lost majority in the Bucharest City Council as three of the seven PPDD councilors teamed up with liberals and democrat liberals. (Adevarul)
Leu Slightly Up Vs Euro, Exchange Rate At 4.387
The Romanian leu gained slightly against the euro by midday Monday and the central bank’s reference strengthened to 4.387 units, from 4.3888 units in the previous session.
Against the US dollar, the leu’s indicative won 0.3% on the day to 3.2138 units, the strongest rate in two months.
The leu opened flat at 4.39 per euro, but later appreciated, hitting an early high of 4.385 to the euro.
At around 1:00 pm, the leu traded at 4.3855/4.386 versus the euro.
In the money market, overnight rates were at 1.9%-2.4% a year. (Adevarul)
Romania’s Resident Population Drops Below 20 Million In 2014
Romania’s resident population numbers dropped below the 20 million threshold in January 2014, to 19.94 million inhabitants, down 0.4% from January 2013, the national statistics institute INS reported Monday.
Nearly 57% of Romania’s population is aged between 25 and 64 and 16.5% are over 65.
The resident population includes all individuals (of Romanian, foreign or no citizenship) residing in Romania for at least 12 months. The resident population includes immigrants but excludes emigrants, INS said. (Adevarul)