Press Review - March 18, 2016

03.18.2016 By Gabriela Stan

International Insurance Consortium To Buy Carpatica Asig

Netherland-based International Insurance Consortium has reached an agreement with the owners of insurance company Carpatica Asig, for which the Financial Supervisory Authority ASF decided to apply resolution measures, so that the investment fund will buy the Romanian insurer.

The transaction is pending clearance from Romania’s Competition Council.

International Insurance Consortium said in a statement that the company plans to seal the deal before the summer comes, depending on the Competition Council’s approval.

Carpatica Asig has initially failed to attract an investor in its shareholder structure by the deadline of Financial Supervisory Authority ASF, thus ASF decided to apply resolution measures at the beginning of this year. (Romania Libera)

Over 2.2 Million Foreign Tourists Accommodated In Romania Last Year - INS

The over 2.2 million foreign tourists accommodated in Romania last year for business or for holidays spent RON5.6 billion (EUR1.1 billion) in the country, according to data released by statistics institute INS.

Travel consultants said that the INS data for 2015 is rather positive for the Romanian tourism sector and that the results could be even better in terms of foreign tourists and expenses than the data show.

According to the statistics bureau, over half of the foreign tourist came to Romania for business, congresses, conferences, courses, fairs and exhibitions (55.9%), so that business travelers accounted for 59.5% of the overall spending. The remainder of 30% of foreign tourists came for holidays. (Puterea)

Oil Price Surged Over The $40 Barrier On Thursday

Oil prices surged over the $40 barrier on Thursday, trading nearly at 2016’s high, on information that major crude oil producers will meet next month to discuss oil price support measures, according to Reuters.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including the largest exporters, Saudi Arabia and Russia, will meet on April 17 in Qatar to discuss an output freeze deal.

At 17:00 hours, Brent was trading at $41.34 per barrel, surging more than 50 percent from the 12-year low of $27.1 touched in January and close to the $41.48 high touched on March 8. (Adevarul)

ALDE And PSD Team Up For Local Elections In Bucharest

ALDE co-chair Calin Popescu Tariceanu, announced on Thursday that he decided, together with PSD president Liviu Dragnea, that ALDE and PSD would team up for the mayor elections in capital Bucharest.

"We will candidate on common lists but we still have to see who the best candidates are. In district 1, for example, Mr. Dan Tudorache is the president of PSD organization, then there is Laura Chiriac from ALDE and we have to think who would be the best candidate. Based on this aspect, we will choose the districts and the candidates (...) At the moment, this is the decision that we have made and we are trying to build on that," Tariceanu stated.

Tariceanu added that neither PSD nor ALDE would support a potential candidacy of the district mayors elected in 2012: Andrei Chiliman, Cristian Popescu Piedone, Marian Vanghelie. (Puterea)

Over 13,500 Romanian Children Subjected To Family Abuse

The National Child Protection Authority has published concerning data for Romania: over 13,500 children were abused, neglected or exploited last year, most of them by their families.

The majority of children subjected to family abuse are 10-13 years old. In 2015, 13,546 children were the victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse, were neglected or exploited (for work, sex or crime), while over half of the cases were registered in rural areas (7,576).

Of the 13,546 cases of child abuse registered last year, 12,616 were cases of family abuse.  (Puterea)