Catalin Parvu, head of the local subsidiary of the Greek at Piraeus Bank, says he is optimistic about 2011 and expects a wide-scale resumption of lending, be it just because banks will be forced to boost their revenue base. read more...

Romania’s Government plans to merge three electricity suppliers into a single unit running under state-owned electricity supplier Electrica, according to an official government document obtained by Mediafax. read more...

Romania’s Government might sell further shares in natural gas producer Romgaz after the company’s floating on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, but it will keep the majority stake, according to an official document obtained by Mediafax. read more...

Romania's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has drafted a new ordinance requiring drivers to use snow tires during the winter, bringing in an estimated EUR445 million to the state budget, from the VAT collected from tire sales. read more...

Health insurance houses throughout Romania will resume activity Monday after a halt caused by problems with the integrated IT system used to keep tabs on social healthcare contributions, head of the National Health Insurance House Lucian Duta said Sunday. read more...

Romania’s Economy Ministry is planning to sell or shut down several research and development institutes and will consult with local and international bodies on the matter, according to an official document obtained by Mediafax. read more...

Hundreds of Romanians have protested recent fuel price hikes by picketing gas stations throughout the country and paying for fuel in coins as pump prices have risen over 15% last year, adding to a 13% growth in 2009. read more...

Romania's "First Home" program, which offers loan incentives to first-time home owners, will continue in 2011 with a guarantee ceiling of at least EUR200 million, Prime Minister Emil Boc said Friday. read more...

Romania will pay the International Monetary Fund interest worth SDR266 million (EUR300 million), for the loan installments transferred this year. read more...

France has blocked the adoption of a technical report on Romania's accession to the Schengen Area, asking for more time to examine a report on Romania's implementation of the SIS / SIRENE system's human interface, according to Radio France Internationale. read more...

The Chisinau parliament approved on Friday the government and the governing program presented by Vlad Filat. Therefore, the Filat II government received the vote of trust of the parliament. 59 deputies, members of the Alliance for European Integration voted for the government. Communists did not attend the vote, Jurnal.md reads. read more...

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso and Azerbaijan President, Ilham Alizev signed a common declaration regarding Europe’s gas supply. Representatives of Nabucco consortium said the declaration opens the way for the full implementation of the project. read more...

Romanian MEP Corneliu Vadim Tudor, who is under criminal investigation for assault and disobeying court orders, appeared Friday before the prosecutors of the Supreme Court, but refused to make any statement, invoking his immunity as member of the European Parliament. read more...

The Romanian leu fell against the euro in mid-trade Friday, on a negative sentiment in the region, and the central bank announced a reference rate of 4.2669 units, 0.25% weaker than 4.2564 units a day before. read more...

Romanian military and police retirees Friday filed criminal complaints at the General Prosecution Office against Defense Minister Gabriel Oprea, Interior Minister Traian Igas and Romanian Intelligence Service chief George Maior, whom they accuse of abuse of office and discarding court rulings. read more...

Romania is the 16th largest auto market in the European Union by new car registrations in 2010, whose number dropped three times more abruptly locally than in the EU, according to data released Friday by the European Carmakers Association ACEA. read more...

The world's grain giants, such as Alfred Toepfer, Cargill, Glencore and Bunge last year reached 800 million euros in exports from the Romanian market, 30% more than in 2009. read more...

Petrom, the biggest company on the Romanian market, last year paid 55 million euros as ruled by the National Fiscal Administration Authority (ANAF) after the tax authority found expenses registered as deductible in the company's books, but which did not qualify as such. read more...

The leading Romanian cities have started to publish their own budget drafts for 2011, which provide either for revenue declines or for anaemic increases against 2010, a year that was not at all good as far as revenues of the local administration are concerned: the revenues of the leading cities fell by an average 10% against 2009, which led to repeated expense adjustments. read more...

Foreign direct investments in 2009 were around 1.4 billion euros lower than original calculations had shown, down 63% against the previous year, instead of the original 48% decline. read more...