Senate Adopts New Parliamentary Election Law
The Senate adopted a new law on parliamentary elections, which entails a smaller legislature, with around 150 MPs.
The bill was adopted 105 to 2 votes.
The bill will move on to the Chamber of Deputies, which has the final say.
At the latest parliamentary election, in 2012, Romanians elected 588 lawmakers. (Adevarul)
Senate Committee Endorses Higher Pensions For Clerks In Parliament
Senators in the committee for legal matters endorsed a bill Wednesday to raise the pensions of clerks in Parliament.
The bill, initiated by social democrats, will be debated in and put to the vote in Senate and then in the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decider. (Puterea)
Romania Launches Bond Sale To Public
Individual investors can subscribe between 8 and 19 of June at Romania’s first government bond sale to the public since 2005, and the final allocation will be announced on June 25, a finance ministry official said Wednesday.
The Finance Ministry aims to sell 100 million lei (EUR22.5 million) of government bonds, with an up to three years maturity.
“The interest will be set according to a reference rate on the bond market, plus/minus 0.2 percentage points. The prospect will be published Friday, and it will include the interest interval,” Treasury chief Stefan Nanu told a news conference held at the Bucharest Stock Exchange to present the bond sale.
The bond will be listed on the Bucharest stock market starting June 26. (Puterea)
Natural Gas Prices To Rise As Of July 1
The energy regulator has proposed a new calendar for the gradual increase of prices for domestic natural gas.
According to the new calendar, the price of natural gas should be raised as of July 1. The proposed calendar sets a gradual price hike for domestic natural gas from RON53 to RON78 per MWh until 2018.
The IMF required a raise of up to RON90/MWh. (Romania Libera)
Romania Unemployment Rate Up To 6.9% In April
Romania’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.9% in April, from 6.8% in the previous month, seasonally adjusted data from the statistics institute INS showed Wednesday.
In April 2014, the jobless rate was 6.8%.
The number of unemployed people was estimated at 628,000, from 623,000 in March. Male unemployment rate was 7.6%, while female unemployment reached 6%. (Romania Libera)