Romanian consumer prices rose 0.77% in February from a month earlier, while the annual inflation accelerated to an unexpected 7.6%, the country’s statistics institute INS said Thursday. read more...

ING Bank, the local branch of the Dutch group, ended last year with a 128 million-lei gross profit, up 52% against 2009 due to the significant cut in provision costs. read more...

Romanian businessmen Dinu Patriciu and Frank Timis have been included in this year’s wealthiest people list compiled by Forbes. read more...

The Supreme Court rejected on Thursday an appeal submitted by the Dan Voiculescu, founding president of the Conservative Party, against a previous decision by which he was declared a collaborator of the Ceausescu-era political police, the Securitate. read more...

Trains will stand still for two hours on March 16, the day when the Romanian Parliament votes on a censure motion against the current government, as railway trade unions announced a warning strike to mark the event, news agency Agerpres reports. read more...

The price of crude oil is not yet fully representative of the Middle East turmoil, so it will keep rising to some $150 per barrel, before falling down in the seond half, according to Erste group analysts. read more...

Italian utilities group Enel appointed Luca D’Agnese as chief executive of its Romanian unit, replacing Claudio Zito, whose mandate expired. read more...

Romania is last in the European Union by the waste recycling rate, Environment Minister Lazlo Borbely said Thursday, adding that the Ministry will allot EUR1.2 billion until 2015 to improve this situation. read more...

Romanians who fail to pay their pension contributions for three consecutive months may risk contract termination under a draft decision the Labor Ministry has submitted for public debate. read more...

Stock of Dafora Mediaş drilling company (DAFR), controlled by Gheorghe Călburean, registered the strongest increase from the lows reached in February 2009, multiplying investors' money six times over the past two years. read more...

Businessman Alin Burcea, who controls Paralela 45 travel agency, a top ten one in Romania, maintains that in the first two months of this year bookings for holidays in Antalya, Crete and Rhodes doubled after tourists gave up buying trips to Egypt or Tunisia. read more...

KFC fast-food network plans to open ten restaurants this year and reach a total of 50 restaurants on the domestic market and turnover worth 180m lei (43m euros), up 12% from 2010. read more...

Those who chose to borrow in Swiss francs to buy a home in 2006-2007 paid less in lei than if they had taken out a euro-denominated loan, thanks to the lower interest rates, despite the franc/leu exchange rate rising faster than the euro/leu rate. read more...

Astra Asigurări, a company controlled by businessman Dan Adamescu, climbed to the top position of the ranking of Romanian insurance companies after underwriting 1.11 billion lei (264 million euros) in gross premiums last year, toppling Allianz-}iriac, which had filled the no.1 position for seven years. read more...

The managers of companies who decided in the past few years to get the company listed on the Stock Exchange say the fears of Romanian entrepreneurs related to opening their businesses up to the public and to investors are exaggerated and that Romanians are too secretive, considering that in developed countries most medium-sized and big businesses are listed on the stock exchange. read more...

Labour Minister Ioan Botiş yesterday in a press conference of ruling party PDL (Democratic-Liberal Party) presented the favourable opinions he received from certain business owners regarding the new Labour Code, saying he had not received opinions from employees, but that the new Code will lead to the creation of 90,000 jobs. read more...

Businessman George Copos, who controls electrical engine plant Ana Imep in Piteşti, which posted 21.6 million-euro turnover last year, says his company must be included among the top 100 biggest local exporters, considering exports make up 95% of the plant's business. read more...

It's farewell to declines in the NBR interest rate until the end of the year; the Romanian currency will continue to strengthen against the euro because the central bank will try to temper prices of import goods. These are the main effects anticipated by analysts after the negative surprise of February inflation, when the annual rate abruptly leapt from 6.9% to 7.6%. read more...