Quarter III in numbers

• July 5th

- The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania decides to lower the monetary policy interest rate to 6.75% per year, from 7% per year, starting on July 8, 2024.

• July 19

- There is a meeting of the Energy Command, convened by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, during which the increase in energy production in the band was established.

• July 25

- The Government approves and submits to the Parliament a draft law aimed at modernizing the centralized heating system, proposing new legal solutions to stimulate economic operators in order to provide the public service of thermal energy supply, at new standards of quality and efficiency.

• August 7

- The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania decides to reduce the monetary policy interest rate to 6.50% per year, from 6.75% per year, starting on August 8, 2024.

• August 8

- The European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Bank of Romania (BNR) decide to renew a framework agreement to provide liquidity in euros for the BNR, through a repo line. Liquidity lines aim to prevent financing tensions on international markets and unwanted effects on the stability of financial markets. Based on this agreement, the BNR can borrow up to 4.5 billion euros from the ECB. The repo line will be available until January 31, 2025, unless extended.

• August 14

- The Government approves the Government Public Debt Management Strategy for the period 2024-2026, in which the actions of the Ministry of Finance are foreseen to ensure the financing of the budget deficit and the refinancing of the public debt, mainly in national currency, in parallel with accessing external financial markets, depending of the opportunities offered in these markets.

• August 22

- Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloş, and other members of the Cabinet are traveling to Brussels for discussions with Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, regarding the need to review the assumed budget deficit target for the current year and establish a plan for seven years in which Romania's finances return to the maximum deficit level of 3% of GDP, as stipulated in the EU treaties.

• August 24

- The PSD Congress takes place, an event during which Marcel Ciolacu was re-elected head of the social democrats (the only candidate for this position), being also designated as the party's candidate in the presidential elections.

• August 30

- The rating agency Fitch Ratings maintains the rating related to Romania's government debt at "BBB-"/"F3", with a stable outlook.

• September 2

- Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, nominates Roxana Mînzatu for the position of executive vice-president of the European Commission, with the portfolio for employment, social rights and education.

- The BNR announces that, on August 31, 2024, foreign exchange reserves at the National Bank of Romania stood at 63,187 million euros, compared to 63,579 million euros on July 31, 2024. The level of the gold reserve remained at 103.6 tons. Under the conditions of international price developments, its value was 7,588 million euros. Romania's international reserves (currency plus gold) on August 31, 2024 were 70,775 million euros, compared to 71,029 million euros on July 31, 2024.

• September 4th

- The shareholders of CCP.RO Bucharest approve the updated Business Plan of the Central Counterpart, the capital increase of the company by five million euros, the license contract with Euronext Clearing and the contract with the new technological service provider. Of the five million, three million euros represent the contribution of the BVB.

- The government approves, through an emergency ordinance, a partial tax amnesty that will benefit 330,000 companies and 848,000 individuals, who will pay their main outstanding debts to the state budget until November 31, 2024 August 2024.

• September 9

- The Ministry of Energy announces the launch of the state aid scheme in the form of contracts for difference (CfD), intended for the production of electricity from renewable sources, namely onshore wind and solar photovoltaic energy.

• September 13

- The NBR announces that, in the period January-July 2024, the current account of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of 15,178 million euros, compared to 11,328 million euros in the period January-July 2023. In its structure, the balance of goods recorded a deficit more high by 2,531 million euros, the balance of services - a smaller surplus by 1,303 million euros, the balance of primary revenues - a larger deficit by 538 million euros, and the balance of secondary revenues - a larger surplus by 522 million euros.

• September 23

- The government adopts, through an emergency ordinance, the first budget rectification of the year, in order to adjust budget revenues and expenses, given the increase in the deficit and the need to finance essential areas such as health, energy and infrastructure. According to official estimates, after rectification, the budget deficit for 2024 will reach 6.94% of GDP, compared to the initial target of 5%.

• September 24

- The NBR informs that the monetary mass in the broad sense (M3) recorded, at the end of August 2024, a balance of 693,601.3 million lei. This increased by 0.8% (0.6% in real terms) compared to July 2024, and compared to August 2023 it increased by 10.8% (5.4% in real terms).

• September 27

- The Ministry of Public Finance announces that the budget deficit rose to 80.87 billion lei (4.57% of GDP) in the first eight months of this year, from 42.19 (2.63% of GDP) in the same period of 2023.

- The Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, announces the launch of the "Offshore Wind Roadmap for Romania" report, produced by the World Bank, a document that foresees projects of 19 billion euros until the year 2035 in offshore wind capacities in the Black Sea, the commissioning of 7GW for the system national energy and the creation of a maximum of 77,000 new jobs.

• September 30

- The BNR announces that, according to the annual statistical research carried out in collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics, the net flow of foreign direct investments (FDI) in our country was around 6.75 million euros in 2023, compared to 10 billion euros in 2022.

- The BET index, of the 20 most liquid securities from the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), decreased by 3.4% in the July-September period, and the BET-BK, the yield benchmark of investment funds in shares, with almost 2.6%.

- The shares of Transport Trade Services, along with those of One United Properties and TeraPlast, were among the titles with the biggest declines in the BET index in the third quarter of the year. In the case of the river carrier (TTS), the quotation depreciated by 19%; the real estate developer One United Properties lost 16.6%, and the shares of the manufacturer of construction materials TeraPlast depreciated by 11.9%.

- OMV Petrom shares fell by 4.7%, Romgaz shares, OMV Petrom's partner in the Neptun Deep project, by 6.7%.

- Transelectrica shares recorded a decline of 13.6% in the third quarter, Electrica shares - of 12.1%.

- The shares of Aquila, Antibiotice and Sphera Franchise Group had the biggest increases in the BET index, namely: 18.1%, 12.2%, 4.5%.

- The BET-FI index, of the former SIFs plus Fondul Proprietatea, had an advance of 5.4%, being the only basket of shares from BVB that appreciated in the third quarter of the year.