November 4, 2014
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România Internațional, 04.11.2014, 14:00
Romania’s National Bank may today reduce the reference interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, to reach 2.75% APR, at the same time keeping constant the minimum mandatory bank reserves in Lei, according to analysts. In September, the central bank slashed the reference interest from 3.25 to 3% APR, and reduced the mandatory reserves in Lei from 12 to 10%, keeping the hard currency reserves at 16%. Analysts expect Romania’s central bank to continue relaxing its monetary policy next year as well.
Partial elections got underway in the United States and could change the country’s political structure, should the Republicans win the majority in the Senate. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent to Washington, the ballot is being held for 33 Senate seats, actually making the election’s relevant stake, and the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Given that the Republicans have already taken control over the aforementioned House, surveys have revealed they are highly likely to bolster majority.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is deeply worried over the situation in Ukraine and invites all parties involved to reassert their commitment towards the spirit of the peace agreements sealed in Minsk. Previously, Ban Ki Moon stated the so-called elections in the self-styled people’s republic of Donetsk and Luhansk could jeopardize the agreements. EU – and US-backed Kiev has denounced the elections staged by separatists in the aforementioned regions. In another development, the Anti-terrorist Operations Service in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday has informed rebels have never ceased to attack the army’s checkpoints and the Donetsk airport, which is under the control of Ukrainian army.
The European Commissioner for Migration, Internal Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos stated he was terrified following this past Monday’s fatality when 24 illegal migrants lost their lives as the boat they were sailing in capsized off the coast of Istanbul. 43 people, most of whom Afghan, were on board, but joining them were Syrians and Turkmen. According to the Turkish media, the migrants were trying to reach Romania.
Romania’s ruling coalition today is holding a meeting to set up the election campaign strategy in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election. The candidate of the alliance made of the Social Democratic Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, incumbent Prime Minister Victor Ponta this past Sunday stated names were to be put forward on Tuesday for the Prime Minister position, also stating that the Liberal Reforming Party, whose leader was the current Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu was highly likely to be invited to join the ruling coalition. Victor Ponta’a contender Klaus Johannis stated he would not be trying to strike up a deal with his former contenders just to secure his backing in the presidential runoff. In the first round Victor Ponta got more than 40 per cent of the votes in favor, that is around ten per cent more than Johannis.
Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s officials as well as representatives of the Central Electoral Bureau today are looking for solutions to avoid crowded areas around polling stations abroad, ahead of the presidential runoff due on November 16. The country’s incumbent president Traian Basescu yesterday stated the current Foreign Affairs Minister must step down, and joining him should be the minister delegate for Romanians around the World, on account of what Basescu called the serious dysfunctions in the way the first round was held in polling stations abroad. Prime Minister Victor Ponta stated Foreign Affairs Minister Corlatean and his team at the Foreign Affairs Ministry guaranteed with their positions that on November 16 all Romanian citizens who want to cast their vote would be able to do that. The two Romanian high-ranking officials’ statements have occurred as in the past Sunday’s round in the Diaspora people had to line up for hours on end around the polling stations and a couple of hundreds of them were unable to vote. Tensions and prospective voters’ jostling have been reported for polling stations in London, Munich, Chisinau, Stuttgart, while at the headquarters of the Romanian Embassy in Paris French police intervened to appease the tension which was mounting at the polling stations.
The Euro zone growth rate cannot exceed 0. 8 % this year and 1. 1 % in 2015, according to the European Commission’ s autumn economic forecast. The most recent forecast looks more pessimistic than in the spring, when the Commission forecast 1.2% growth rate for 2014 and a 1.7% rate for 2015. According to the latest forecast, the Euro zone cannot stand at more than 1.7% earlier than 2016. Also, the growth rate in the Euro zone could have an inflation rate standing at 0.5% in 2014 and at 0.8% in 2015, against the backdrop of the sluggish economic recovery in the countries that have emerged out of the crisis. The reported inflation rate should not stand at more than 1.5 % in 2016, while the Central European Bank’s eventual aim is to maintain the inflation rate a little bit below 2 %.
