Romania gets 20 billion euro bailout aid from IMF and EU 
About 13 billion euros will come from the IMF and the rest from the EU, World Bank and the EBRD. About 13 billion euros of the package will go directly to central bank foreign exchange reserves, which stood at 25.9 billion euros as of the end of February.
The loan package allows to run a budget deficit barely below last year's 5.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). It envisages cutting spending by roughly 1 percent of GDP.
GDP forecasts downgraded
Analysts have revised downwards their GDP forecasts issued at the end of last year or early 2009 as a result of deepening international economic crisis. IMF anticipates that the economy of Romania will fall 4.1% this year, and to remain 0% in 2010. Moody's has forecasted respectively -4% and 0.3%.
Moody's anticipates Romania will register a difficult economic recession, but it considers that collapse is avoided thanks to the relatively low debt of the private sector and the reduced dependence on foreign trade. Romania had in 2008 an economic growth rate of 7.1%.
Romania's trade deficit narrows in February as currency weakens
Romania's trade deficit narrowed in February as a weaker leu discouraged imports. The deficit narrowed to 764 million euros from 1.57 billion euros a year earlier. The leu has weakened more than 13 percent in the past year against the euro, the main currency for Romania's international trade.
M&A transactions fell 7 times in 2009
The cumulated value of closed M&A deals in Romania of this year slightly exceeds 100 million dollars, while during the same period of last year the value of transactions amounted to 700 million dollars, announced PricewaterhouseCoopers.
EU banks interested in Romanian market
Another eight banks in the EU have notified the Romanian National Bank about their intention to provide services on the Romanian market based on the European financial passport, despite the current troubled international environment. The list includes among others Aegon Bank, Raiffeisen Stras-Spielfeld and Nord LB Covered Bank.
Arcelor Mittal Galati makes 1,800 people redundant after record profit
Arcelor Mittal Galati, Romania's biggest exporter, made last year more than 200 million dollar net profit. However the plant might cut production to half or even one third of what it used to be, as a result of the crisis. Thus about 1,800 of the 2,100 people could leave the company.
The year 2008 was both good and bad for companies in the steel industry, with steel makers witnessing high demand and record prices for steel and steel profiles in the first nine months, only to see the market plunge in the last three, which seriously affected the business of the Romanian plants.
Romanian carmaker Dacia to boost exports
Dacia, owned by France's Renault, will boost daily output by 12 percent and hire new staff from mid-June as state incentives in several EU states like Germany, Italy and Spain have revived demand. Many buyers have been seeking bargains abroad, benefiting Dacia, which exports the 6,000 euro Logan model.
Over the first quarter of 2009, there were 31,514 Dacia vehicles registered in total, within 28 European countries, by 26.5 per cent more than compared to January - March 2008, where there were 24,916 units registered.
At the same time new car sales market in Romania has decreased significantly. The number of new vehicles for passengers registered in Romania faces 60.7 per cent decline, in the first quarter of the year, compared to the similar time period of 2008, to 29,089.
Carrefour Romania Sales Rise 7% on New Stores
Carrefour, Europe's biggest retailer, said first-quarter sales in Romania including revenue from 11 stores built last year, rose to 250 million euros. Sales in 12 stores opened before 2008 fell 5 percent as wage growth and the economy slowed in Romania.
Cement sales down in Q1
Carpatcement, the Romanian subsidiary of German group HeidelbergCement, recorded a sales volume decline by 25-30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same time last year, amid weaker activity in the constructions sector owing to lacking financing for new projects.
Lafarge Ciment, the largest cement producer on the Romanian market, has altered its turnover forecast three months into the year, and now expects a 10% business decline, to 375 million euros, after budgeting a 2-7% rise in its annual report.
Vestas to deliver 76 wind turbines to Romania
Vestas Wind Systems, the world's largest wind-turbine maker, won an order to supply 76 units to two projects being developed by EDP Renovaveis in Romania.
The first of the 3-megawatt V90 turbines are due to be installed by the end of the year. Portugal based EDP became the world's fourth-biggest wind operator following its purchase of Horizon Wind Energy LLC of Texas from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2007.
Prices of Bucharest apartments down by a further 11% in three months
Old three-room apartments in Bucharest have become 11% cheaper since the beginning of this year, apartment prices have fallen 11%, to an average price of 1,370 euros per square metre. Number of transactions have gone down dramatically at the beginning of this year, by up to 50%.