Romania”s President Iohannis at NATO summit in London
Romania’s newly elected President Klaus Iohannis is in London for a two-day summit marking NATO’s 70-th anniversary. Mr. Iohannis’ agenda on Wednesday includes among other events a working breakfast with US President Donald Trump and leaders of NATO countries already granting 2 percent of their GDP to NATO military spending in compliance with an earlier request made by President Trump. Such countries include Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria and Great Britain. The event comes after President Iohannis and First Lady Carmen Iohannis attended a reception on Tuesday offered by Queen Elisabeth II in honour of participants to the NATO summit. The Romanian prresident also attended a meeting of NATO leaders hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at his office in Downing Sttreet 10.
BNR in support of RON
Romania’s National Bank (BNR) intervened in the forex market to prop up the leu after concerns about the effect of a government spending spree on inflation and the budget pushed the currency to a record low last month. The bank, which has a managed-float policy for the leu, spent less than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) from its foreign-currency reserves on the interventions, according to a BNR official who wnated to preserve anonymity. BNR spokesman Dan Suciu told Bloomberg the bank never comments on its market interventions. However, BNR has been known to react swiftly in the past to big currency swings aimed at protecting euro borrowers and averting price changes.
Romania”s minimum wage increased from January 2020
Romania’s minimum wage is supposed to increase by RON 83 from January 1, 2020, according to a government proposal made yesterday (November 3). However, Romanian trade unions put forward a different proposal. The government mentioned an increase of 7.2 percent (RON 2,230) while tradeunionists like Cartel Alfa trade union mentioned a wage of RON 2,260 with the BNS trade union supporting a minimum wage of RON 2,284. Prime Minister Ludovic Orban believes the minimum wage should rely on economic reality in order to prevent any major disturbances. However, Mr. Orban promised to consider trade unions’ proposals while pointing out that an economic forecast could easely change in time.
Alexandru Danga, RADOR
