Press Review - May 7, 2018

05.07.2018 By Oana Gavrila

Hospital Workers on Two-Hour Warning Strike Monday Over Wage Cuts

Employees in hospitals around Romania will be on warning strike for two hours Monday, during which time they will work at 30% capacity and will only provide emergency care.

Healthcare workers are protesting recent tax and wage overhauls that have lowered their income.

Thousands of Romanian healthcare workers have been protesting in the past month due to wage cuts which they say they range between RON500 and RON1,000.

The healthcare sector union federation Sanitas said Friday it raised over 50,000 signatures legally required to trigger a full-blown strike.

Viorel Catarama Wants to Run for Bucharest Mayor

Liberal Viorel Catarama said he wants the party to nominate him to run for Bucharest mayor in the next election.

He said he is confident liberals would beat incumbent social democrat Gabriela Firea provided they adopt a right-winged program and eliminate socialist elements from their political discourse.

Voluntary Pension Funds Had Assets of RON1.87B End-March

Voluntary private pension funds in Romania (Pillar III) had assets of approximately RON1.87 billion end-March, 16.39% higher compared with end-March 2017, data from the financial supervision authority showed.

State bonds accounted for 58.03% of assets, or RON1.086 billion, followed by equity stakes, which accounted for 22.5% of assets, orRON421.4 million.

Corporate bonds made up 6.22% of assets held by voluntary private pension funds, or RON116.46 million.

Pillar III pension funds had 452,997 contributors at the end of March 2018.

The voluntary pension funds operating in Romania are Aegon Esential, Azt Moderato, Azt Vivace, BCR Plus, BRD Medio, NN Activ, NN Optim, Pensia Mea, Raiffeisen Acumulare si Stabil.

Three-Month ROBOR Index Hits New Record High Of 2.54%

The three-month ROBOR index, used to calculate interests on loans in lei with variable interest, reached a new record high on Friday, at 2.54% a year, from 2.49% a year on Thursday, the highest level since October 2014, according to central bank data.

The six-month ROBOR index, which is used to calculate interests on leu-denominated mortgage loans, rose to 2.65% on Friday, from 2.58% a day before.

The nine-month ROBOR index, which is used to calculate interests on loans in lei attracted by commercial banks from other commercial banks for a nine-month period, grew to 2.69% on Friday, from 2.64% previously.

The twelve-month ROBOR index climbed to 2.74%, from 2.68% on Thursday.