Romania's car park grew last year by 1.8%, to more than 5.42 million vehicles, including 4.3 million passenger cars, 6.4% higher than in 2009, according to the data of the Interior Ministry's Driving License and Vehicle Registration Department (DRPCIV). read more...

Franklin Templeton, manager of Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO), Tuesday said it will try to convince the government to list on the stock market several key energy companies to improve their efficiency and boost budget revenues at the same time. read more...

Romania’s Constitutional Court in Tuesday upheld complaints by democrat liberal senators on the validation of 11 members of the High Council of Magistrates, appointed for six-year terms. read more...

Proprietatea Fund shares will be listed, starting with Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at the Bucharest Stock Exchange after five years since the Fund became a company on shares. Romanian news agency Agerpres notes that this is the most important event on the stock exchange in the last years. read more...

IMF, World Bank and European Commission representatives start on Tuesday, in Bucharest, their seventh evaluation mission of the stand-by agreement and negotiations for a new possible agreement. read more...

Businesspeople that invest in football don't seem to be too interested in the shares of the Proprietatea Fund. Its coming listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange does not make it any more attractive to the owners of First League football clubs, who seem to be extremely skeptical about its future. read more...

The issue of special pensions, intensely debated in the past few days, brings into the spotlight a dramatic fact for a country like Romania: a quarter of Romanians aged between 45 and 65 are not working. Consolidated data reveal an even more dramatic situation: 40% of people aged between 45 and 65 are unemployed. read more...

Next year will see the nearly 20 billion-euro record loan taken out by Romania from foreign financers mature, and the National Bank and the Finance Ministry are set to start repaying loan instalments, with one of the issues discussed being whether the Government will have to sell some of its assets in order to repay the money. read more...

European funds for human resources could be the first European money to run out, considering that hundreds of companies and NGOs have signed contracts worth 80% more than the amount allocated until 2013. read more...

Real estate investor Bluehouse Capital, one of the major office space owners in Bucharest, paid nearly 10 million euros for the land and the 8,300 square-metre building of the Praktiker store in Craiova, in this year's first real estate transaction, according to ZF information. read more...

The Israelis at Honigman&Sons Fashion, who hold TNT stores on the Romanian market, and the Turks at Ipekyol, who hold the stores by the same name, filed for insolvency in the past few days, after Leonardo, the biggest footwear retailer in Romania, was the first fashion retailer to reorganise back in 2009. read more...

Alico (formerly AIG Life), the third-largest life insurer on the Romanian market, settled 60% higher claims last year than in 2009, when the value stood at 11 million RON (2.6 million euros), according to the company's preliminary financial data. read more...

Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund- FP), the biggest political project of the last decade, is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange today. Has it been worth it or not for the state to give up stakes in some of its most valuable assets to compensate former owners? read more...

At the end of 2010, Romania had 694 modern format stores - cash&carry, discount stores, supermarkets or hypermarkets, over 100 stores more than at the start of the same year, shows a ZF survey based on information provided by MEMRB market research firm. read more...

The third large private hospital of Bucharest, Sanador, will deliver the first consultations in early February, when the official opening is also scheduled. read more...

Romanian pig breeders say pork contaminated with dioxin, a carcinogen, may have made its way into Romania from Germany and ask that imports from this country be stopped. read more...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Monday revised upward its forecast for Romanian economic growth to 1.1% in 2011, from 0.9% previously, citing slightly improvements over recent months. read more...

Romania’s planned follow-up deal with the International Monetary Fund might not include a new agreement with the parent banks of the country’s top largest lenders, as the mother banks are maintaining their exposure at sufficiently high levels, people familiar with the negotiations said Monday. read more...

International Automotive Components Group, IAC, one of the main suppliers of car parts for Ford Motor Company will invest 58 million euro in a factory at Bals, Olt county. read more...

Romania’s follow-up agreement with the International Monetary Fund will comprise several key requirements meant to rein in the budget deficit and boost the economy, including a better management of the large state-run companies, people close to the negotiations said Monday. read more...