April 11, 2025

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 11.04.2025, 13:55

PNNR. Romania will use almost all of the European funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), even if the deadlines for this program will not be extended by the European Union beyond the middle of next year, said Finance Minister Tánczos Barna. He explained that to this end, by the end of the month, the government in Bucharest will have redistributed funds to other projects. On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance borrowed almost 1,000,000,000 lei (about 200 million euros) from banks through an issue of state bonds with a maturity of 64 months, according to the National Bank, and today the state wants to attract more money, for this purpose scheduling an additional auction. The money is to be used to finance the public debt and the state budget deficit.

Inflation. In Romania, the annual inflation rate fell to 4.86% in March, from 5.02% in February, as food prices rose by 5.10%, non-food prices by 3.84%, and services by 6.99%, according to data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The National Bank of Romania revised upwards, to 3.8%, from 3.5% previously, the inflation forecast for the end of 2025 and anticipates that it will reach 3.1% at the end of 2026, according to data presented in February by the Governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu.

Ukraine. Defence ministers from the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group, formerly led by the US, are meeting in Brussels today, where Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to provide an update from the front and outline the equipment his country’s defence forces most urgently need. The UK Ministry of Defence has announced a £450m increase in military aid to Ukraine, as the UK and Germany replace the US as hosts of a 50-nation meeting. The package includes £350m from the UK, with the rest coming from Norway through the London-run International Fund for Ukraine. Military sources have recently warned that Ukraine could face significant military difficulties by the end of the summer if its partners do not commit to providing additional military aid.

Moscow. US special envoy Steve Witkoff has traveled to Moscow for the third time at the request of US President Donald Trump, where he is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin today, according to sources quoted by EFE. Trump is pushing for a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine and has expressed frustration with the lack of progress in negotiations in recent weeks. Last week, Witkoff received Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington in an attempt to resolve the diplomatic deadlock. Although Ukraine accepted Trump’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire and later agreed to plans for a smaller-scale cessation of hostilities at sea, Russia has presented a series of new demands, including the lifting of US sanctions.

Bookfair. Between April 11-13, 2025, Romania is participating in the most important international event dedicated to books, hosted by the French capital, Festival du Livre. The participation has been organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute, through the National Book Center (CENNAC) and the ICR Paris, in partnership with the embassies of Romania and the Republic of Moldova in France. Visitors can choose from 52 titles by Romanian authors translated into French, published by 37 publishing houses in France and Switzerland, and 23 titles in Romanian, proposed by 13 Romanian publishers.

Tennis. The Romanian women’s tennis team was defeated by Canada 3-0, after Georgia Andreea Crăciun/Mara Gae were defeated by Kayla Cross/Rebecca Marino 6-2, 6-4, in the doubles match of the event hosted by Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, in Group A of the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. Also today, Anca Todoni was defeated by Marina Stakusic 6-4, 6-3, and Miriam Bulgaru was defeated by Victoria Mboko in two sets, 6-1, 6-4. In the other matches in the group, Romania will meet Japan on April 12, and Canada will face Japan on April 13. The winner of the group will qualify for the Final 8 tournament, which will be hosted by Shenzhen (China) and to which Italy, the holder of the trophy, and China, the host team, are directly qualified. The teams ranked second and third in the groups will compete in the play-offs of the 2025 edition of the competition, alongside the best teams in Group I. (MI)