Romanians who will take out loans within the “First Home” program must guarantee their loan with their current account and can file currency swap requests, according to the explanatory note to a Government decision which amends the norms implementing the program. read more...

Mechel Russian group, which owns four steel plants in Romania, announced it is about to complete investment of around 36m euros in the Oţelu Roşu foundry, part of Ductil Steel Buzău company, with a capacity of 810,000 tonnes of unprocessed steel per year. read more...

More than half of the 20 best-selling OTC drugs in Romania are used in the treatment of pain or for colds and flu, reveals a ZF analysis based on data provided by IMS Health research firm. read more...

Guaranteed life insurance and financial plans for children will be primarily targeted this year by clients seeking saving alternatives, given the continuing economic uncertainties, believes Cornelia Coman, general manager of ING Asigurări, the biggest player on the life insurance market. read more...

At least half the works of Alpine Romania, the local subsidiary of Austrian constructions group Alpine, could consist of road infrastructure works this year, said Ionel Giuglea, the company's general manager. read more...

The 30 biggest contracts awarded by the National Motorways and National Roads Company in Romania (CNADNR) in the past four years are worth a total of nearly 1.7 billion euros, but only eight of them, worth more than 400 million euros were for works on motorways or on bypasses. Over this period, CNADNR had nearly 9 billion euros at its disposal. read more...

TotalSoft, one of the leading players on the Romanian software and IT services market, will develop new products and tap into new business segments - such as applications dedicated to end users, in order to be able to speed up its revenue growth rate, Daniel Ionescu, the company's strategy manager told ZF in an interview. read more...

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management and one of the most influential people of the financial markets, asks for reassurance that the foreign investors who will invest in Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund) will be treated "fairly and with respect" by the Romanian Government, stating his willingness to go to the International Monetary Fund and to the European Union to make sure this is the case. read more...

The Romanian state collects half the value of petrol and diesel oil sales, i.e. around 3.5 billion euros in 2010, the equivalent of 9% of its revenues, based on estimates on the amount of fuels sold on the Romanian market. Around 20 million euros' worth of petrol and diesel oil are sold daily on the Romanian market. read more...

The US investment funds managed by Artio Global Investors (the former US investment arm of Swiss bank Julius Baer), which still own the largest portfolio on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, valued at around 130m dollars (100m euros), have started selling stock in OMV Petrom (SNP), the biggest listed Romanian company, according to market sources. read more...