Romania
Bucharest Stock Exchange starts 2021 with strong growth
BVB officials expect 20 more bond and share issues this year after a surge in interest in the alternative AeRO market.
Major Romanian cities enter lockdown or red zone amid rising infection rates
Timisoara is the first first-tier Romanian city to enter lockdown in 2021, but the number of infections is rising elsewhere in the country.
Global IT group Stefanini opens EMEA operational security centre in Bucharest
Brazil-based company Stefanini's operational security centre in Bucharest will work with customers from the entire EMEA region.
Romania’s January retail sales point to more cautious household sentiment
Romania's retail sales volume index increased by 1.6% y/y in January amid expectations of an austerity budget for 2021.
Romania to ban Chinese companies from big infrastructure projects
Bucharest has already scrapped a deal with China's CGN to expand its nuclear power plant and agreed with the US to exclude "unsafe" companies from 5G auctions.
Erste Bank net profit halves to €783mn in 2020
Austrian lender provisions for COVID-19 downturn but says it does not expect a significant increase in hard defaults after the expiration of debt moratoria in the region.
Romania’s public debt-to-GDP ratio up 12.4pp y/y to 47.7% at end-2020
Public indebtedness increased amid the government's efforts to support the private sector and address the health crisis.
Romania expects to get €720mn from sale of 5G licenses this year
Revenues for the state budget from the sale of the entire 5G frequency spectrum could "easily" exceed €720mn, regulator said.
Emerging Europe strong on women’s economic opportunities but dragged down by low pensions
Different retirement ages for men and women lead to lower pensions for women despite reforms in 2019-2020, says World Bank report.
Hidroelectrica becomes Romania's most profitable company ahead of potential IPO
Hidroelectrica replaced oil and gas group OMV Petrom as the country's most profitable company, reporting a 5% rise in net profit to almost €300mn in 2020.
Romania: Demography, labour force and pandemic
There were many changes during 2020, but for Romanians it is quite clear that 2021 will not be a year of plenty.
Romanian IT company Bittnet enters FTSE Russell indices
Romania will now have four companies in the FTSE Russell indices following its upgrade to secondary emerging market status last year.
Online is in vogue in Romania
eSales by online fashion sites are gaining on those of major retailers in Europe’s fastest-growing e-commerce market.
Abuse and hate speech against LGBTI people rises across Europe and Central Asia
Crackdown on democracy and civil society during pandemic accompanied by increase in hate speech by politicians finds ILGA-Europe report.
Romanian property rental platform Milluu raises money to expand in Poland
Largest-ever crowdfunding through Seedblink platform allows Milluu to replicate its business model in Warsaw.
Resilient emerging Europe labour markets to bounce back post-crisis
Unemployment growth has been modest and a return to tight labour markets is expected as economies recover from the coronacrisis.
ING: Romania’s 2021 budget plans – as good as it gets
Romania's 2021 budget plans could hardly have been more ambitious after being constrained by the high share of rigid spending in the last few years
Romania’s construction works up 16% in 2020
In a year marked by a 3.9% GDP contraction, the sector has been one of the few pockets of growth.
Romania’s economy doing better than expected after surprisingly strong Q4
BCR and ING Bank significantly improved their forecasts for Romania's 2021 GDP growth.
Romania’s external debt rises by 7.1% of GDP in 2020
Romania added €15.6bn to its external debt in 2020, pushing the total up to €125.4bn or 57% of GDP.