August 14, 2013
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Roxana Vasile, 14.08.2013, 12:00
Romania’s GDP went up in the second quarter as opposed to the first by 0.3%, according to the National Institute of Statistics, with economic growth gauged at 1.7% as against last year’s similar period. Last week, the National Bank adjusted its expectation for growth this year to over 2%, based on the evolution of exports, industrial output and a good farming year. Also, the IMF upped its economic growth forecast for Romania to 2.25% next year. The Eurozone came out of recession in the second quarter, with 0.3% growth as opposed to the first quarter. This comes after a year and a half of economic downturn, the longest since the adoption of the Euro in 1999.
Romania’s new program with the International Monetary Fund does not provide for tax-increases for the entire population of the country, the IMF representative to Bucharest, Guillermo Tolosa, has told the Agerpres news agency. He has said that the only changes brought to the taxation system will be an increase in the excise duties for luxury items, to compensate for the VAT cut for bread, and the payment of social securities, for those who obtain incomes from letting their dwellings. This is expected to lead to the better funding of the healthcare system. In late July, Romania agreed to sign a new agreement, also a precautionary one, with the IMF and the European Commission, after successfully completing a similar one, in June. The document is to be submitted to the IMF board for approval in autumn.
Romania’s administrative regionalization process will be carried out on European basis and not on ethnic criteria, Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean said on Wednesday at the Summer Camp held at Izvorul Muresului, in central Romania, and devoted to the situation of the Romanians living outside the borders of the country. He explained that the process of regionalisation should be carried out to the benefit of all citizens, irrespective of the ethnic group they belong to and that the autonomy-based models are not accepted, neither in Europe, nor in Romania. The Romanian foreign minister has also stood against the use of warring rhetoric in the bilateral relation with Hungary, adding that Romania should have an open dialogue with Budapest, which should also include divergent issues. Corlatean made this statement against the backdrop of strong declarations with autonomist connotations having been recently made in Transylvania by the leader of the far right Hungarian party, Jobbik, followed by the ensuing statements made by Romania’s President, Traian Basescu, according to whom Romania should assume the role of setting Budapest straight.
The majority Christian Orthodox believers in Romania, alongside Greek-Catholics and Roman-Catholics celebrate the Assumption or Dormition of Virgin Mary on August the 15th. Over 2.2 million Romanians bear the name of Maria, and its derivative forms, celebrating their name day on August 15th. As Virgin Mary is considered to be the patron saint of sailors, Navy Day is also marked on August the 15th, by military and religious ceremonies, drills, games and artistic shows, to be held in Bucharest and other towns, particularly those on the banks of the Danube and on the Black Sea Coast.
Wednesday’s issue of the French daily “Le Monde” carries an eulogising article on the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest, as part of a series entitled “Improbables musées” (Improbable Museums), which presents 12 original and exquisite European museums. When referring to the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest, the author of the article notes the way in which the artefacts are exhibited, be they clothes, tools, objects of cult, rugs and carpets, crosses, vases, icons and clocks, which make up an eclectic collection boasting a voluntary and naïve style…illustrative of the simplicity of life in the countryside. The Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest was set up in 1906, based on a decree signed by King Carol I. In 1996, the museum won the trophy “European Museum of the Year”.
