The up to threefold increase in the pollution tax for second-hand cars has made them more expensive on the Romanian market, car market players say. read more...

Businessman George Becali, financer of the Steaua Bucureşti football team, at the end of last year sold an around 20,000 square-metre plot in Pipera (northern Bucharest) to real estate developer Portland Trust, founded by British businessman Robert Neale, one of Bucharest's leading office developers. read more...

The Government sent to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a letter saying Romania had met all conditions to get a new tranche of the loan, having ended 2010 with a deficit of 6.6% of GDP, with 1.27 million public sector employees and with the arrears below the agreed cap. read more...

Funding the Banking Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB) on the basis of stand-by agreements with lending institutions has been dropped at the beginning of this year, and banks' annual contribution quota has been raised from 0.2% to 0.3%. read more...

Ursus brewery and Libertatea furniture producer, two centres with an over 100-year history, are closing, after Cluj has lost a large part of the dairy, sweets or apparel industries in the last decade. read more...

George Mihalcea, 50, former general manager of Aurel Vlaicu (Băneasa) airport, has been appointed as airport services manager with Qatar Airways airline, one of the world's biggest, which will operate flights on the Romanian market starting January 17. read more...

The value of domestic shopping centres has plummeted, so that many projects are worth less than debts to banks. read more...

Romania’s government sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund saying the country has met all requirements for a new tranche out of the EUR13 billion stand-by loan, including a budget deficit of 6.6% of the gross domestic product for 2010, people close to the matter told Mediafax. read more...

Romania cannot, unilaterally, give up the monitoring mechanism on Justice on the contrary, the decision rests in the hands of the Commission, EC Spokesperson Mark Gray declared for RFI. These statements follow Romania’s Foreign Affairs minister who warned that Romania might unilaterally give up the mechanismif it is used as a pressure in other sectors. read more...

Romanians are third in world pessimists to after the French and the Icelandic, according to a survey related to the 2011 economic perspectives ordered by the French daily Le Parisien and conducted by BVA Gallup in 53 countries. read more...

President Traian Basescu will hold on Tuesday, at 6:30 PM a press conference at the Presidential headquarters, the presidency informs. read more...

Romania needs to report further progress in 2011 so that it keep up with plans to join the euro in 2015, but reforms might take two years, which may change the date of euro adoption, Romanian National Bank (BNR) Governor Mugur Isarescu said on Tuesday. read more...

Dan Voiculescu, leader of the small but influential Conservative Party (PC), said in an interview for Romanian news agency Agerpres on Tuesday that he wanted a "three-way political alliance of Social Democrats [PSD], National Liberals [PNL] and PC, a long term, 5-10 year alliance to cover several electoral cycles". read more...

Romania's Constitutional Court decided on Tuesday that a recently adopted Education Law was constitutional, thus rejecting claims against its constitutionality submitted by Senate speaker Mircea Geoana and opposition MPs, news agency Agerpres reports. read more...

Czech group CEZ sold by the end of 2010 its shares in the project to conclude works at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania, a press release of the group reads. read more...

One of the advisers of Romanian democrat liberal Gheorghe Flutur, president of the Suceava County Council, northeastern Romania, will walk the distance between Vienna, Austria, and Suceava to promote the tourism project "Pilgrim in Bukovina", financed with European funds. read more...

Romania's Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that the education law, adopted through a vote of confidence in the Government, is constitutional and will be sent to the President. read more...

Romanian banks raised in November the interest rates on new loans in both lei and euros, but maintained the interest on new deposits, according to central bank data released Tuesday. read more...

Romania’s electricity consumption rose by 4.7% on the year in 2010, and is estimated to increase by at least 1% in 2011, according to state-owned power grid operator Transelectrica’s (TEL.RO). read more...

Players on the forex market, where nearly 400 billion euros are traded every year, say the euro will remain in the 4.2 RON region this year, as well. read more...