The International Monetary Fund is likely to disburse both next two tranches of its EUR13 billion loan to Romania mid-March, according to IMF representative ,Tonny Lybek. A new IMF mission will visit Romania end January or early February to assess the country's economic performance and decide on the next aid tranches, said Lybek. IMF concluded its assessment mission earlier than scheduled, saying that will return to Romania after the country's political situation is resolved. Romania was scheduled to receive a EUR1.5 billion third tranche from the IMF in December this year, but the country must adopt the 2010 budget first, a move seen unlikely in the absence of a proper government. In October, the eastern European country plunged into political turmoil, after its government failed a no-confidence vote in parliament. The lawmakers have since refused to back a new Cabinet, in response to President Traian Basescu's refusal to designate their candidate for premiership.

Romania's public debt went 27.6 % up, on September 30, reaching 140.09 billion lei, that is 28.17 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) estimated for the current year, according to data published by the Public Finance Ministry. Total public debt was of 109.75 billion lei at the end of 2008 and represented 21.78 % of last year's GDP. The weight of the public governmental debt in the whole of the debt increased by 1.26 percentage points versus the end of 2008, from 91.58 % to 92.84 %, while the local public debt stood for 7.16 % of the total debt after the first nine months. Romanian ministry said 61.96 % of the debt was maturing in the short run, 34.85 percent was medium-termed and 3.19 % was maturing in more than 5 years. The ratio of the negotiable debt rose to 38.6 % at the end of September, from 25.7 %, in December 2008.

Today's reference rate of exchange settled by the central lender NBR lowered to the steepest level of the past six weeks and the leu remained below the threshold of 4.28 lei / euro, following a strong advance at debut, on a market with high trading volumes. Related: National currency to a reference rate of exchange of 4.2952 lei/euro Romanian currency drops to EUR 4.29 Dinu Patriciu: „Leu currency has nothing to do with real economy” Euro currency trap: we live at 4.1 RON, but die at 4.8 RON The National Bank of Romania reported a reference level of 4.2811 lei per euro, versus 4.2928 in the previous session. National currency soared from 4.2990 to 4.2750 over the euro and then swayed near this level. At 3 p.m. banks were buying an euro with 4.2759 lei and selling it for 4.2849 lei.

Romanians diagnosed with cancer need a lot of luck, since the support fails to appear. They have to face medicines’ high prices and the system’s red tape. Chronically ill people in Romania got tired of the indifference, humiliations and flaws of the sanitary system. They demand respect for their right to live. Doctors gave no chance for survival to the four-year-old little boy from Pelisor village, Sibiu. Florian Fulga has spent most of the year in a children medical center in Timisoara. He had been diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer, in January 2009, and has been hospitalized until past month. His mother wanted to keep on fighting, even after doctors gave up and released him from hospital, hoping he’d find another remedy. The boy started a natural treatment, which gave results, but thr products cost almost as much as his mother earns per month.

Subway employees resumed their activity, at 4 p.m., after the strike between 5.00 a.m. - 4 p.m., as a consequence road traffic being seriously affected, in spite of RATB's supplementing the capacity of transport with an additional 200 buses, trolley buses and trams. Metrorex employees demand 20% wage raises and are set to halt all activity every day until 4 p.m.. Subway employees cannot halt activity altogether because the law requires them to cover one third of regular activity even during a general strike. The capital's road public transport company RATB sent out all its available vehicles to fill the gap caused by the subway strike, but the city's streets couldn't fit the extra one third of the population that usually takes the subway, which led to numerous traffic jams and angered most people who got out of the house. People owning stores inside subway stations complained they lost more than half the day's earnings because of the strike.

Dacia presented today the new SUV model Duster, made in Mioveni factory. This is the first time this version appears in public. Dacia has planned a surprise, offering a preview of the Dacia Duster, which anticipates the brand's first 4x4 model, to be sold as of 2010, an Automobile Dacia press release said. The competition vehicle has a fiber glass body, a V6 engine built by Renault Nissan which provides 350 hp at 7,500 rpm and is located in the vehicle's back. The gearbox has six steps. Duster will be the sixth Dacia model and the brand's first SUV. The Andros Trophy's twentieth edition will begin in December. The competition is renowned for being one of the most difficult in the world. French-born Alain Prost is 54 and a four-time F1 world champion: in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993. He has taken part in every edition of the Andros Trophy since 2003-2004, and has won twice. France and Germany are the main markets for Dacia, a company owned by the Renault group. Former Formula 1 pilot Alain Prost will drive a Dacia Duster competition model in the French Andros Trophy ice racing championship, in a preview of the Romanian producer’s first SUV.

The cheapest property for sale in the 10th edition of the National Real Estate Fair is a EUR 34,900 one-room flat. The flat belongs to Fortuna Residence assembly, from Alexandriei Street and measures 42 square meters. The building is part of a nine-block complex, three of which are already finished. Related: China is the new world champion in real estate transactions Real estate fair – lower price offers, but no customer base Real estate crisis ends at the end of 2009 Real estate fraud to spread According to the fair’s organizers, with the amount solicited in February for a 42-meter one-room flat in Prelungirea Ghencea, that is EUR 4,0817, one can purchase, in November, a 48-meter one-room flat in Alexandriei Street, and you still have a EUR 5,917. What is more, they say, you have to pay another 11,900 for the parking place, or this is included in the selling price. One of the most interesting offers is the one offered by Poiana Florilor, Salaj developer, which receives as anticipation the customer’s old car or house.

The rocket's modules had been taken out of the ship and transported into a TIR to the Romanian Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Association (ARCA), in Ramnicu Valcea. The launch of the first Romanian rocket into space was rescheduled for the beginning of 2010 after a series of problems caused by weather conditions. ARCA was planning to launch the first Romanian rocket on Saturday, at the Black Sea. But, the launch planned for Saturday was postponed over bad weather conditions and rescheduled for next year. "Helen", designed and built by ARCA, is a three-stage orbital rocket and represents Romania's entry in the Google Lunar X Prize competition which aims at sending on the moon a device meant to transmit data on earth. Created in 2007, Google Lunar X Prize is an international space competition to land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. The prize for the winning team is $30 million.

The National Loan Guarantee Fund has received, so far, over 8,300 guarantee requests of “First Home” program, almost 8,000 of them being approved. The value of the requests exceeds EUR 330 million, which is a third of the approved ceiling. The medium value of a guarantee is about EUR 41,000 and the majority wants to buy a two-room flat (45,9%). 21.76 % requested guarantee for a three-room flat and 13.4 for one-room flat. About 28 % of the houses purchased through this government program had been built after 2008 and only 5 % of these asked for buildings in course of developing. In the top of the districts, after the number of guarantee requests, are the following: Bucharest, Constanta and Brasov. The most active banks participating in the program are BRD, BCR, Alpha Bank, Banca Transilvania and Millennium Bank.

Metrorex employees will go on a general strike on Tuesday, November 17, protesting wage raise claims, which have been rejected after today's negotiations. As a consequence, the subway will be closed between 5 a.m. - 4 p.m., but will function normally from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Subway unionists failed to reach an agreement with acting Transport Minister Radu Berceanu. The two parties met, Monday morning, to find a solution that would prevent a general strike. The unionists demand the start of negotiations for a new collective labor contract and want wage raises of nearly 26%. Last week, Berceanu said, before the Government meeting, in which the subway company's 2009 budget was approved, that subway workers' wage claims are ungrounded and exaggerated.

Metrorex employees will go on a general strike on Tuesday, November 17, protesting wage raise claims, which have been rejected after today's negotiations. As a consequence, the subway will be closed between 5 a.m. - 4 p.m., but will function normally from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Subway unionists failed to reach an agreement with acting Transport Minister Radu Berceanu. The two parties met, Monday morning, to find a solution that would prevent a general strike. The unionists demand the start of negotiations for a new collective labor contract and want wage raises of nearly 26%. Last week, Berceanu said, before the Government meeting, in which the subway company's 2009 budget was approved, that subway workers' wage claims are ungrounded and exaggerated.

Next year, world economy will face a high unemployment rate in the developed countries, a protectionism coming back and the risk or some stock market and real estate speculative bubbles. At least, this is what Robert Zoellick, World Bank chairman, thinks. The World Bank official says trust may be again affected in 2010, if real estate and stock market bubble are not controlled. And this will happen, in spite of the fact that economy is on its way back to recovery and trust is very important, says Zoellick. The high unemployment rate, especially in the developed countries, will represent a new peril for banks, since consumer or mortgage loans will be impossible to reimburse.

While neighbor countries have taken drastic measures to revive economy, Romania takes populists decisions, in full electoral campaign, deepening even more financial downfall. Eastern Europe countries that enacted restrictive politics in due time are now taking advantage of the increase o appetite for Western imports. The rhythm of the economic decrease in Central and Eastern Europe countries has been slowing down in the third quarter, with Western trade partners encountering an increasing side. The request for region countries exports has risen, especially in the case of four states: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. In Romania, exports balance in relation to GDP is strongly negative, -15%. On the other hand, Hungary began to register trade gluts, this year, exports’ value exceeding imports. Counting among the new EU entries, Romania will probably be the only country to register a deeper economic decline in t third quarter of this year, comparative to 2008’s same period. Specialists reported for Bloomberg news agency that Romanian GDP would keep on decreasing, to -9% in the third quarter, comparing to the previous quarter, when GDP was -8.7%. The increase in demand of goods ans services present in the European Union countries had no real influence on our country, in the sense of an economic recovery. ”We begin to see an improvement of the situation in the Eastern Europe, with the stabilization of the external climate” says Neil Shearing, economist in Capital Economics, London. „Economic recovery always begins with the Western European countries, which contribute to the increase of regional exports and to the reestablishment of the capital flow” added Shearing.

The level of the flat tax and the value added tax will not increase in 2010 in Romania, as any increase in taxation would be “an error,” acting Economy Ministry Adriean Videanu said during an economic forum Thursday. Romania applies a 16% flat tax on income, since 2005, The VAT level currently stands at 19%. Income tax and VAT account for almost half the country's budget revenue. On Wednesday, Romania's central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said the authorities can either redirect budget funds to better performing economic sectors or take the unpopular measure of hiking taxes in a move to consolidate public finances.

2010 budget will allocate 7 % of GDP, or 20 % of the public sector spendigs, for investments, same as in 2009, according to the interim minister of Finances, Gheorghe Pogea. Only that budgetary execution on the first nine months of the year show that, by September, only 3 % of GDP represented investment spendings. Romanian private environment took a harder blow than the public sector in the financial crisis’ aftermath and the authorities will take measures to correct the asymmetry created, interim Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea said Thursday. We are determined to correct this asymmetry between the private and public sectors. In all honesty and fairness, the private sector was the one to suffer during this difficult period, Pogea said during the Central European Initiative Summit Economic Forum in Bucharest. They deserve congratulations for having sacrificed profit margins to keep their staff in place, Pogea also said. Romanian economy will see a gradual recovery, but the reforms launched by the government must continue, even if some of them are not that popular.

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