Press Review - October 17, 2018

10.17.2018 By Oana Gavrila

Nearly 1 Million Romanians Have at Least RON10,000 Saved in Private Pension Account

Romania's association for private pensions APAPR has calculated that 500,000 to 1 million Romanians are not aware they have at least RON10,000 saved in their mandatory private pension account.

“Nearly one million Romanians have at least RON10,000 in their Pillar II account and are not aware. That means they either think they have less than RON10,000 or they think they have no money saved in their private pension account,” said association president Radu Craciun.

Net assets of private pension funds in Romania stood at EUR10.41 billion at the end of September, 6.2% higher than at the end of June

Pillar II had 7.18 million contributors at the end of September, compared with 7.15 million contributors at the end of June.

Pillar II posted an annualized average yield of 8.43% since launch.

Arda Turan Slapped with EUR375,000 Over Bar Fight

Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir have hit Arda Turan with a 375,000 euro fine after he was allegedly involved in a bar fight with Turkish singer Berkay Sahin.

Turan, 31, is on loan from Barcelona and is currently being investigated because of the extraordinary incident.

The club published a statement explaining that they had fined Turan.

"As this matter is now with a court of law, and reserving the right to make additional decisions and sanctions, we have fined Arda Turan 2.5 million Turkish lira and we would like to inform the public that our player's professional obligations to our club will continue until the court makes its final decision in this regard,” they said.

In May Turan attacked an assistant referee and was banned for 10 games.

Romanian PM Meets With UAE Counterpart, Dubai Ports Chairman

Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila attended on Tuesday meetings with her United Arab Emirates counterpart Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and with Dubai Ports chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, during her official state visit to the Middle Eastern country.

In the meeting with Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of the Dubai Emirate, the two officials discussed bilateral relations and the economic effects of this year’s Mixed Cooperation Committee between the Romanian and UAE governments, which took place in April in its first ever session.

According to the Romanian Government, Dancila told her counterpart that the UAE has an “important potential to absorb Romanian products”, and that the Emirates could become significant investors in certain fields of the Romanian economy.

The Romanian chief of cabinet later met with Dubai Ports and Dubai Maritime Authority chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

The two officials reportedly discussed creating an extended economic partnership between the Romanian and UAE governments and cooperation in areas such as energy, agriculture, investments, tourism or emergency services.

The Romanian prime minister’s tour in the Middle East included a state visit to Turkey on Monday, and also has scheduled another visit to Persian Gulf state Kuwait.