May 15, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 15.05.2020, 19:51

ALERT About 100 people took to the
streets of Bucharest on Friday to protest the restrictions imposed during the
state of alert. On Friday Romania replaced the state of emergency with a 30-day
state of alert, enabling the authorities to continue the fight against the COVID-19
outbreak. In shops, public transportation, at work and in other indoor public
areas, protective face masks are compulsory. Citizens may move freely within
their home localities, but a sworn statement and justified reasons are
necessary in order to leave the locality. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis Friday
signed into law a bill on measures to prevent and contain the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic. The bill was previously endorsed by Parliament with a number of
amendments, including the fact that a state of alert introduced in at least
half of the national territory needs to be approved by Parliament.

MARKET Romania’s car market registered a 30% slump in the first four
months of this year as compared to the same period last year, data released on
Friday by the Association of Car Producers and Importers shows. The main causes
were the COVID pandemic, circulation restrictions as well as the all-out halt
in Europe’s car production. Local brand Dacia tops the ranking of the
best-selling cars with 9551 vehicles, followed by Volkswagen with 3436, Renault
with 2961, Skoda 2779 and Ford with 2564 vehicles sold.

CEI Romania’s foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu on Friday attended the extraordinary summit of Central
European Initiative (CEI) held over conference call. The head of the Romanian
diplomacy referred to the support Romania offered to Italy and the Republic of
Moldova. Over April 7th and 24th, a team of 11 Romanian doctors and nurses
joined their Italian counterparts in the fight against the pandemic. A Romanian
convoy of 20 trucks carrying medical equipment of 3.5 million euros has this
month arrived in the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova to help the
neighbouring country fight the pandemic. Romania has also sent medical
personnel to the neighboring republic for the same purpose. The CEI is a
flexible regional cooperation platform comprising 17 countries, of which 9 EU
member states.

ECONOMY Romania’s GDP went up 2.4% in the first quarter of the
year compared to 2019, and 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, the National
Statistics Institute announced on Friday. These preliminary figures will be
revised and, given the current context, corrections may be more substantial
than usual, the institution says. The main international financial institutions
estimate that Romania’s GDP will drop by 4-6% in 2020, over the corona crisis.

COVID-19 Another 14 patients infected
with the new coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the death toll to 1,070, the
Strategic Communication Group announced on Friday. More than half of the over
16,400 Romanians who have tested positive for the virus so far have recovered.
Among the Romanians living abroad, over 2,880 have been reported to have the
disease, and 103 of them have died.

(translated by bill)