The forex market, the biggest domestic market, last year managed to return to growth after having plummeted in 2009, with the total volume of operations going up by 13%, to 397bn euros, namely more than three times the value of GDP. read more...

Romania’s Finance ministry requested the IMF to allow a higher deficit target in the first two quarters of 2011 for investments. read more...

Romanian authorities’ plan to collect taxes on high wealth will target about 1-2% of contributors, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu said Monday, adding that fiscal authority ANAF will set up several departments tasked with checking high wealth individuals. read more...

Romanians save only 7% of their monthly income, the lowest level registered among the ten states included in a research conducted by insurer ING Asigurari de Viata. read more...

Romania will sign new, precautionary agreements with both the International Monetary Fund, and the European Commission, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu told a news conference Monday. read more...

The Romanian state is starting the year with a lot of cash on its hands, i.e. 900 million euros from the IMF and another 2.5 billion euros set to come from the EU and the World Bank, while in the real economy private companies continue to make people redundant, close businesses and file for insolvency. read more...

BCR, the biggest bank on the Romanian market by assets, is no longer selling RON-denominated real estate loans and RON-denominated unsecured loans. read more...

Overnight deposits at Romania’s central bank reached a combined amount of 387.29 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2580) in 2010, seven times more than in the previous year, which points to an average daily liquidity excess of RON1.06 billion, according to central bank data. read more...

The International Monetary Fund Board approved Romania’s request for a new waiver of non-observance in the government arrears sector for end-December, the IMF said in a press release. read more...

IMF board approved on Friday the sixth evaluation of the agreement with Romania and its supplementary letter so that the institution will release the seventh installment worth about 900 million euro that will be delivered most probably on Monday in the account of the Romanian National Bank, Romanian news agency Mediafax reads. read more...

The International Monetary Fund Board approved Friday the release of the seventh disbursement of a stand-by loan to Romania, worth EUR900 million, and the money is to enter the Romanian central bank’s accounts most likely on Monday. read more...

IMF board discusses on Friday, the sixth report on Romania’s compliance with the requirements set by the Stand-By Agreement. read more...

The IMF will make around 3.6 billion euros available to Romania as part of the new precautionary arrangement, which will most likely be a one-year arrangement sealed after the completion of the current programme in May, but the money will be accessed only in case of an emergency, said government sources. read more...

Euro is likely to slide to 4.15 RON in the first quarter, from 4.26 RON at present, believe ING analysts, who surprisingly revised their forecast yesterday in the wake of the good news piling up in recent weeks. read more...

The International Monetary Fund will make available for Romania EUR3.6 billion in a new, precautionary deal that will be signed after the current stand-by agreement expires in April, people close to the talks told Mediafax. read more...

Romanian President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Emil Boc, central bank governor Mugur Isarescu, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu on Thursday set the parameters of a new, precautionary agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, the central bank said in a statement. read more...

Online payments using bank cards increased by 38% in 2010, to EUR127.8 million and the number of transactions rose by 82%, to 2.26 million, according to data released by Romanian credit card transaction processor Romcard. read more...

ING Bank Romania revised its view on the leu and sees the local currency stronger in 2011 than its previous forecasts, following the positive impact of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund. read more...

The year 2011 will not bring tensions on the local financial markets, the RON will start on a trend of slight appreciation, interest rates on the monetary market will remain low amid excess liquidity, and the state will continue to finance itself problem-free, while on the Stock Exchange the "historic event" will be flotation of Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund), anticipates Claudiu Cercel, vice-president of financial markets of BRD-SocGen, the second-largest bank on the Romanian market. read more...

The NBR (National Bank of Romania ) decided yesterday in its first monetary policy meeting to leave unchanged both the key interest rate, which has remained set at 6.25% since May 2010, and the minimum reserve requirements, preferring not to send out signals for a lending revival and for a reboot of the recession-mired economy. read more...