October 18, 2014 UPDATE
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Bogdan Matei, 18.10.2014, 12:15
Famous rating agency Standard&Poor’s has reconfirmed Romania’s sovereign debt rating on short and long term with stable outlook. According to the Finance Ministry in Bucharest, the rating was maintained due to the country’s economic growth of 2.7% on an average between 2014 and 2017, the continued process of fiscal consolidation and the decline in its external debt. The agency believes Romania will this year meet its budget deficit target of 2.2% of the GDP and that in the following three years the level of the public debt will remain under 40%. Standard&Poor’s believes the risks posed by the geo-political situation in the region are low because Romania’s trade volume with Russia and Ukraine is reduced.
Romanian tennis player Irina Begu will be playing Russian Anastasia Pavliucenkova in the finals of the WTA tournament in Moscow with 710 thousand dollars in prize money. Begu defeated Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the semis, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3. The last year’s edition of the tournament in Moscow was won by another Romanian, Simona Halep, the world’s number three player. Halep is now in Singapore, which as of Monday will be hosting the 2014 WTA Finals, which brings together the world’s eight best players this year. On Saturday Halep became part of the so-called Red Group, together with Serena Williams of the USA, Eugene Bouchard of Canada and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. There is another group, called the White Group, which includes Maria Sharapova of Russia, Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Halep is Romania’s third representative in the WTA Tour Champions after Virginia Ruzici in 1983 and 1984 and Irina Sparlea in 1998.
Romanian Minister of Education Remus Pricopie on Friday in London met baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, the European Rapporteur for Romania between 2000 and 2004. The discussions took place during a charity event hosted by the Romanian embassy in Britain. Also on Friday, the Romanian Minister held talks with Graham Stuart, Chairman of the House of Commons Education Select Committee. High on the agenda were joint projects in the field of education and reforms carried out in the UK’s education system. The Romanian official’s agenda also includes a visit to the University College London, where classes of Romanian language are being taught.
Even if the risk of contamination with the Ebola virus in Romania is very low, the authorities are on high alert, state secretary with the Ministry of Health, Raed Arafat has recently announced. According to him, the risk is low because Romania’s airline company does not fly directly to the affected areas in West Africa, where the virus has so far killed 45 hundred people. The Romanian official says that 500 people are being monitored in Romania while investigations on their health are carried out in specialized laboratories abroad. About the prevention measures adopted by the authorities in Bucharest, there is a special medical unit close to Bucharest.
Bogdan Stanoevici, the Romanian minister delegate for the Romanians all over the World as of Saturday will be paying a visit to Italy. High on the agenda are talks with local authorities and with representatives of the Romanian community in Italy, which has one million people, being the most numerous in the Dispora.
Millions of Germans remained stranded on various routes due to a train drivers strike on Saturday. Two thirds of long distance trains have been halted by the protesters who are asking for better pay and the right to negotiate payment. After the strike of Lufthansa pilots, the train drivers’ strike is the second event of this kind at national level in a week. National rail company Deutsche Bahn has described the strike as irresponsible and irrational adding the company incurs at least one million euros in losses per day.
