The Week in Review: 2-8 August

A roundup of the main stories in Romania this week.

Roxana Vasile, 08.08.2020, 13:39

The authorities are considering three options for the reopening of
schools

Until Wednesday,
school children in Romania, who have been at home since March, were still in
the dark about how the new school year would start, and their parents and teachers
worried. Asked repeatedly about how classes would be held for pre-university children,
from nursery schools to high schools, the Liberal minority government had only implied
that physical attendance would be combined with online teaching. The much-awaited
clarifications eventually came on Wednesday, when president Klaus Iohannis said
kindergartens and schools would reopen as scheduled on 14th
September. He said classes would be held based on three scenarios – labelled
green, yellow and red – that will differ regionally depending on the rate of
infection in each area. More precisely, the local authorities are to decide if
they reopen schools partly or fully or if they keep them closed. Most children are
expected to attend school physically, but classes will be conducted online where
necessary.

The Social Democratic Party in opposition has pointed out that
children and teachers are yet to receive the tablets and computers promised by
the government for remote teaching. The NGO Save the Children has called on the
authorities to come up with guidelines to help schools take the best decisions
for the start of the new school year depending on a number of factors, not only
the coronavirus situation, but also the available space, the distance to school
and means of transport to school for children and teachers and the hygienic
conditions in schools. The NGO also pointed out that 47% of Romanian school
children had limited access to education during lockdown, as they did not have
access to tablets, computers or the internet. The education ministry now says
that the government has allocated the funds needed to purchase 25,000 tablets
and 74,000 laptops. During the state of emergency, that same ministry had called
on the Orthodox Church to help children who don’t own computers or whose
parents can’t afford to buy them one.

National Bank of Romania cuts monetary policy interest rate

The Managing
Board of the National Bank of Romania decided to cut the monetary policy
interest rate as of 6th August from 1.75% to 1.50% a year, as well
as to cut interest rates on deposit and credit facilities that commercial banks
can benefit from in relation to the National Bank. Also, the central bank
decided to maintain at the current level the sums that banking institutions are
obliged to keep in its accounts.

Romanian bankers are saying that the global
and European economies began to recover in May amid the gradual relaxation of
movement restrictions, but that there’s still a long way to go until they return
to the situation before the health crisis. Economic recovery remains uncertain
in the short run, being dependent on the evolution of the pandemic and the associated
measures, the authorities’ fiscal measures and the monetary policies of the central
banks in the advanced and emerging economies.

As far as the Romanian economy is
concerned, the National Bank of Romania says it shrank in the first quarter of
the year from 4.3 to 2.4%, while the trade deficit level grew considerably amid
a sharp drop in the export of goods and services. The contraction became severe
in the second quarter, with a strong decline in April, when a full lockdown was
imposed to contain the spread of the pandemic. Some recovery was seen in May,
following the replacement of the state of emergency with the state of alert. The
leu-euro exchange rate became quasi-stable. Gold became, however, more
expensive, reaching record high levels, a sign for some analysts that the
economy is in great difficulty.

Prince Charles urges Romanians to discover their country

Prince Charles, the heir to the
British throne, urges Romanians to spend their holiday in their own country and
discover its incredible beauties in a video made recently and presented on
Tuesday at his residence in Valea Zălanului, in central Romania. The five-minute
video was made by the British journalist Charlie Ottley, the producer of a
series of documentary films called Wild Carpathia aimed at supporting the Romanian
tourist industry. Prince Charles, who narrates the video, says he first came to
Romania twenty years ago and that he discovered an amazing country which has a
special place in his heart. He says he regrets not being able to travel to
Romania this year because of the pandemic but that he would continue to campaign
for the protection of its unique treasures. He mentions the Danube Delta, Europe’s
biggest and wildest wet area, the collections in Bucharest’s museums, the wild
beauty of the Iron Gates gorges, the castles, the mountains and the Saxon
villages of Transylvania.

CFR Cluj win football championship
title

CFR Cluj won their third consecutive
football championship title as they defeated Universitatea Craiova 3-1 in an away
match held on Monday night. This is CFR’s sixth championship title in the
Romanian First League. Universitatea missed the chance to win their first title
in 29 years, but this is their best ranking since returning to first tier
football, not to mention their good play in the decisive championship match.