August 20, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 20.08.2022, 19:21

Inflation — In Romania, the annual inflation rate will have minor fluctuations until the end of September and then it will take a downward path for 3 quarters, according to the National Bank of Romania – BNR. It expects the inflation rate to reach 13.9% in December. On the other hand, the BNR warns that the forecasts regarding the economic activity for next year are significantly revised downwards. According to the Central Bank, next year Romania will experience a significant drop in private consumption, under the influence of the gradual increase in interest rates on the population’s loans and deposits. The government has recently adopted the first budget rectification of 2022, a positive one, which takes into account an economic growth of 3.5%, the budget revenues for the first six months and the budget execution during this period. The Finance Minister, Adrian Caciu, claims that the budget deficit can be kept under control and that the target of 5.84% for the end of the year is achievable. The Fiscal Council, an independent body that analyzes the sustainability of fiscal and budgetary policies, warned that the rectification could lead to a figure exceeding the target deficit of 7% of GDP, because the government allegedly overestimated the receipts and underestimated part of the expenses.

Film – Romanian films were awarded prizes at the Sarajevo International Film Festival, which ended on Friday evening with the awards ceremony, the Romanian Cultural Institute – ICR reports. The animation film “Amok”, directed by Balazs Turai (Hungary, Romania, 2022), which was screened for the first time in the region, won the Heart of Sarajevo award for best short film. “My Muslim Husband”, directed by Daniel Bărnuţi and Alexandra Lizeta Bărnuţi, received the “Movies that matter” award in the CineLink Industry Days section. “Freedom”, the newest film directed by Tudor Giurgiu, producer Oana Giurgiu, received the Jury Award sponsored by Debee Studio, at the CineLink Work In Progress section. The list of winners from the CineLink section also includes producer and director Oana Giurgiu, who won the EAVE Award (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) in the CineLink Co-Production Market Awards section. Ten Romanian cinematographic productions were presented at the 28th edition of the Sarajevo festival, organized in partnership with ICR.

Kayak — The Romanian athlete, Cătălin Chirilă, won the gold medal in the men’s canoe single 1000m final, on Saturday, at the European Kayak-Canoe Championships in Munich. Chirilă (24 years old), a world champion in this event, at the beginning of the month, in Canada, led the entire race, being followed, in the final ranking, by the Czech Martin Fuksa, and the Italian Carlo Tacchini. The latest European medal in the canoe single 1,000 m event had been won in 2011, in Belgrade, by Iosif Chirilă (silver), and the latest European title had been won by Florin Mironcic, in 2006, in Racice. Chirilă (with the CSA Steaua club) will participate, on Sunday, in the canoe single 500m final, in which he is world vice-champion in Halifax (Canada). Also on Saturday, the Romanian athlete Oleg Nuţă ranked eighth in the men’s canoe single 200m final.

Volleyball – Romanias womens national volleyball team defeated the team of Israel 3-0 on Saturday in Piatra Neamţ, in their debut match in Group A of the 2023 European Championship preliminaries. On Sunday, the other match in the group will take place between Croatia and the Faroe Islands. Romania will play the next match on August 24, in the Faroe Islands. The teams ranked on the first two positions will qualify for the final tournament.

Covid – More than 3,860 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been registered in the last 24 hours in Romania, after 16,900 tests were made, the Health Ministry announced on Saturday. 21 deaths were also reported. On the other hand, the protective mask will not be mandatory in schools and no special sanitary measures will be taken, says the prefect of Bucharest, Toni Grebla. Upon checking the stage of preparations for the beginning of the school year, the prefect explained that no additional measures have been discussed that would be imposed in educational units, in the context of the increase in the number of Covid cases. Recently, the Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said that he recommended the use of protective masks in schools, but the only additional protection measure would be the ventilation of the classrooms. (LS)