August 14, 2014
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România Internațional, 14.08.2014, 13:57
Romania’s GDP in the second quarter of this year was 1% smaller than in the previous quarter, but compared to the corresponding period of last year the Romanian economy grew by 1.4%, according to estimates released on Thursday by the National Statistics Institute. In early July, the Institute updated the data concerning the economic growth rate for Romania in the first three months of the year, from 3.8% to 3.9%, as compared to the corresponding period in 2013. In late May, the National Forecast Commission improved Romania’s economic growth forecasts for 2014 and 2015, to 2.5% and 2.6% respectively.
Romania is struggling with an extended heat wave, with Thursday being the third consecutive day with temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius. The heat affects the transportation sector, particularly railways schedules, where speed restrictions are in place. Starting this afternoon, the west, north and center of the country will be expecting heavy rainfalls, thunderstorms and local hail storms. Elsewhere in the country, a significant temperature drop is expected as of Saturday. The noon reading in Bucharest was 32 degrees C.
Agriculture experts from EU member states are analysing in Brussels today the means to address the effects of Russia’s embargo on European foodstuffs. The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Cioloş, who coordinates the expert task force set up after Moscow banned the imports of most foodstuffs from the West, emphasised that the Common Agricultural Policy has new and modern instruments to protect European producers. Also today, the experts will try to find solutions for the non-affiliated producers in Romania, who do not benefit from the EU support mechanisms that mainly target trade associations. Romania has already notified the European Commission on the situation in its foodstuff market, which is flooded by the fruit and vegetables originally intended for export to the Russian Federation. The losses are put at some 300 million euro.
The German economy, the strongest in Europe, has seen an unexpected decrease in the second quarter of 2014, for the first time in 12 months, Reuters reports. According to the Federal Statistics Bureau (Destatis), in April — June 2014, Germany’s GDP shrank by 0.2% compared to the first quarter. The negative developments in foreign trade and investments, particularly in the construction sector, have triggered this drop in GDP, according to Destatis. On the other hand, the strong labour market, high salaries and low inflation prompted an increase in spending. Analysts expect the new GDP data to reflect the way in which the Ukraine crisis affects the economy of Eurozone countries. Last week, Italy also announced a 0.2% decrease in its GDP in the second quarter. The French statistics institute announced that the French economy stagnated in the second quarter. The news raises new questions regarding the recovery of the European economy, Reuters adds.
The humanitarian aid convoy sent by Russia to war-torn Ukraine and stuck during the night several hundred km from the border has resumed its progress to Ukraine, according to Russian media. Kiev is worried that Russia might prepare an intervention in Ukraine, using the humanitarian crisis as a pretext, and has demanded that the aid be dropped at the border and loaded to Ukrainian trucks for further transportation to Lugansk, AFP reports. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said the details regarding the aid convoy had been agreed on with Kiev and the Red Cross and that Russia accepted all the conditions imposed by the Ukrainian side. Moscow said the aid was needed in order to address what it called the disastrous consequences of the large-scale offensive of the Ukrainian army in Donetsk and Lugansk, the last two strongholds of pro-Russian secessionism in eastern Ukraine.
Israel launched four air raids on Gaza on Wednesday night after a new ceasefire agreement took effect, the Palestinian interior ministry announced. The raids took place after six rockets launched from the Palestinian enclave hit the south of Israel. The incidents were reported after the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators had agreed on a five-day extension of the truce, to allow for talks aimed at finding long-term solutions to the conflict in Gaza. Since the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza on July the 8th, nearly 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, along with 64 Israeli troops and 3 civilians.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, seeded 2nd in the WTA tournament in Cincinnati (SUA), will be facing Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic in the eight-finals of this competition with 2,567,000 US dollars in prize money. Halep (22, no. 2 WTA) has so far won two out of the three matches she played against Safarova (27, no. 17 WTA). In the men’s doubles competition, the pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecău and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer qualified into the quarter-finals after defeating the Spanish pair Marcel Granollers/Marc Lopez.
