Press Review - February 14, 2019

02.14.2019 By Oana Gavrila

Finance Minister Says Average Wage to Reach RON3,085

Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said the pension point is set to grow 15% as of September and the average net salary in Romania is sett o reach RON3,085.

Defending the 2019 budget plan in Parliament, the minister said the pension point is set to grow 15 as of September, to RON1,265 from the current RON1,100. He added the country is expected to register a surplus of 0.3% of GDP to the pensions budget.

He said the average salary in Romania would reach RON3,085, 50% higher than in  2016.

The government raised the minimum gross wage for the construction sector to RON3,000 and cut the sectors' social security contribution rate by 3.7 percentage points. 

 

Klaus Iohannis Scores 39.5% Approval Rate in Recent Poll

A poll conducted by INSCOP on January 21-February 5, ordered by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, shows president Klaus Iohannis has the highest approval rate, followed by Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and former social democrat prime minister Victor Ponta.

According to the poll, Iohannis has an approval rate of 39.5%, nearly five points higher than in November 2018, followed by Firea with 23.9%, down from 26.2% in November.

Ponta has an approval rate of 23.7%, up 2.5 points from November.

Dacian Ciolos has an approval rate of 22.5%, up 2.3 points compared with November.

Senate chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu scored an approval rate of 22.4% from 21.9% in November, while ruling coalition leader Liviu Dragnea scored an approval rate of 12.6% in January from 11.6% in November.

Prime minister Viorica Dancila has an approval rate of 9.5%, down from 10.8% in November.

 

Finance Minister Says Coalition Will Discuss Potential Changes to Bank Tax Decree

Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said potential changes to the decree introducing a new bank tax and new levies on the telecom and energy sectors will be discussed by the ruling coalition.

Asked whether the country's budget would be sustainable bar the taxes set in the decree, Teodorovici said the budget would be unaffected.

He said the bank tax was introduced to discourage banks from raising interests and its impact on state budget revenues has not been included in the budget plan.