Prime Minister of Romania leads a delegation on a working visit to Italy
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and several members of he’s cabinet are on a two-day working visit to Italy, where they attend also on the third joint meeting of the governments of the two countries. According to Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu, the agenda of discussions include the status of contracts signed with Italian companies for the construction of motorways and modernisation of railways in Romania. The value of the contracts is around 19 billion lei, all financed by EU funds. Italian contractors are already working on the Bucharest-Pitești motorway 1, the Moldova motorway and the Bucharest motorway, and are expected to complete the connecting roads to the bridge over the Danube at Braila. The builder of the bridge over the Danube at Brăila is starting work this spring on the third section of the Sibiu-Pitești motorway, a contract worth more than €1bn, the biggest ever. Regarding the railways, Italian builders are working on the CFR Sighisoara-Arad main line, which is behind schedule, and will start modernising four sections of the Caransebeș-Timișoara and Cluj-Oradea lines funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Romania’s economy grew by 2% in 2023
Romania’s economy grew by 2% last year, according to data published on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). In contrast, the Gross Domestic Product grew last year by only 0.5% in both the European Union and the euro zone. The annual inflation rate was 7.41% in Romania in January 2024, compared to 6.61% in December 2023. Services tariffs rose the most, by 1.55%, followed by food prices, which increased by 1.3%, and non-food prices, which increased by 0.74%. However, the most significant increases were for grocery products and edible oil.
Romanian health system needs new ambulances, says health minister
Romania’s medical system needs at least 2,000 new ambulances to replace the current ones, which have already travelled many hundreds of thousands of kilometres, Romanian Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Wednesday. He also said this financial effort is in addition to other important investments made by local authorities. „We have appealed to the directors of the county ambulance stations to send us investment projects, so that this particularly important component of emergency medicine can benefit from good quality premises for its employees. We hope, although it does not depend on the Ministry of Health to purchase new ambulances, at least for the time being, to be able to complete the fleet, which is outdated and ageing. We certainly need at least 2,000 new ambulances at our county stations nationwide”, said Alexandru Rafila.
Magda Baciu – RADOR
