Civil Partnership Bill Unlikely To Be Adopted By Parliament
Political sources said the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) will no longer back the civil partnership bill after the referendum to change Romania’s constitution to stop same-sex couples from securing the right to marry has failed as it did not attract enough voters to validate the result.
Asked whether the civil partnership is still backed by PSD, the social democrat leader Liviu Dragnea said he did not know about such a bill.
“I did not see the bill. We shall hold talks within the Executive Committee on whether to back this bill and when the parliamentary procedure will start”, Dragnea said in Parliament Wednesday. (puterea.ro)
Eurostat: Romania Posts Highest Annual Inflation Rate In The EU, Of 4.7%, In September 2018
Romania registered in September, for the eighth consecutive month, the highest annual inflation rate among the European Union Member States, with an increase of 4.7%, similar with the level reported in August, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said Wednesday.
The Euro area annual inflation rate was 2.1% in September 2018, up from 2.0% in August. A year earlier, the rate was 1.5%. European Union annual inflation was 2.2% in September 2018, stable compared to August. A year earlier, the rate was 1.8%.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Denmark (0.5%), Greece (1.1%) and Ireland (1.2%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (4.7%), Hungary (3.7%) and Bulgaria (3.6%). Compared with August 2018, annual inflation fell in nine Member States, remained stable in four and rose in fourteen.
In September 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+0.90 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+0.57 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.51 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.08 pp). (puterea.ro)
Romanian Central Bank Caps Indebtedness Ratio For Consumer, Mortgage Loans
Romania’s central bank board on Wednesday approved new lending rules, limiting the indebtedness ratio allowed for consumer loans and mortgage loans.
For loans in lei, the central bank capped the maximum indebtedness ratio at 40% of monthly income, while the ratio for loans in foreign currency was capped at 20% for both consumer and mortgage loans.
For clients on their first mortgage, the indebtedness ratio may be increased by 5 percentage points.
So far, some banks have granted loans accepting an indebtedness ratio as high as 70%.
Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said earlier this month the board was close to finishing talks on measures to limit the indebtedness ratio on loans to avoid a new build-up of non-performing loans.
We’ve talked to the industry. We’ve talked to other decision factors in Romania. We want lending to have a healthy base. It is for the benefit of consumers that they correctly assess their possibilities for reimbursement to avoid surprises. Payment difficulties of households and corporations are matters of financial security and we are concerned with that,” Isarescu said at that time. (romanialibera.ro)