Agerpres: Alcoholic Drinks and Tobacco Made Up 7.7 per cent of Total Household Costs in 2014

Foodstuffs and non-alcoholic beverages averaged 40 per cent of the consumption of households in 2014, while spending for alcoholic beverages and tobacco averaged 7.7 per cent, shows information published by the National Statistics Institute (INS) at the request of Agerpres.

Market in Bucharest.

"Costs regarding the household are allotted 21.2 per cent of consumption costs, with the largest part of them being made up of consumption of utilities necessary for the running and heating of the household (water, electric and thermal energy, natural gas and other fuels), which are largely necessary for households (17.2 per cent)", the INS informs.

According to the institution, the costs involved in fitting and maintaining the household make up a far lower amount, namely 4 per cent.

"The next in the order determined by the volume of resources allocated were the costs for alcoholic beverages and tobacco (7.7 per cent) and transportation costs (6.2 per cent). The costs incurred on households for healthcare and especially for education record a low level, especially due to the fact that satisfying these needs of the members of the household is done mainly through public services which they benefit through the social insurance system or for free", the information shows (read more on Agerpres).

Percentage of weekly household expenditure going on alcoholic drink, tobacco and narcotics in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2013, by disposable income decile group, was between 3.6 per cent (the lowest decile) and 1.7 per cent (the highest decile) (source).

Households in New Zealand spent over twice as much of their total expenditure on cigarettes and tobacco 40 years ago as we do today, according to 2013 HES results (source).

Romania, the Lowest EU Funds Absorption Rate in the Region

Romania had one of the highest contracting rates for EU funds in the region but only managed to get a little over half of the money allotted to it by the European Commission in the 2007-2013 period, according to KPMG, writes romania-insider.com.

Romania had a 106% contracting rate of the EU funds allotted to it, at the end of 2014, the fourth highest of ten countries in the region. However, it only managed to get 52% of the money, its payment ratio being by far the lowest in the region.

Romania had EUR 19.2 billion allotted from the EU budget for the 2007-2013 period, from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF) and European Social Fund (ESF). The country came up with projects worth a total of EUR 20.3 billion, but managed to get less than EUR 10 billion by the end of 2014.

Romania can still receive payments from the 2007-2013 funds until the end of this year. By the end of May 2015, the EU fund absorption rate went up to 54% and the Government targeted at the beginning of this year an 80% absorption rate by end-2015. The projects that are not finished by then will lose their EU funding.

Hungary and the Baltic states had the highest EU funds absorption rates at the end of 2014, of over 85%.

Romania’s slow progress was due to the delay in implementing EU-funded programs, as well as the many irregularities and corruption suspicions in the procurement process for the projects implemented by public authorities, which determined the European Commission to suspend payments for some programs at times.

Read more on romania-insider.com.

Collective Defense Exercise at the Cincu Firing Grounds in Brasov County, Central Romania

Over 1000 soldiers from 25 NATO member countries are participating in a collective defense exercise at the Cincu firing grounds in Brasov County, central Romania.

It is an exercise for which, for the first time in the history of the Alliance, a NATO military command unit has been temporarily deployed in Romania. 

The exercise is due to end in late June and is part of a large-scale NATO operation, mobilizing over 14 thousand soldiers on the eastern border of the Alliance. 

Also, Romanian firing grounds and garrisons in eastern Romania are hosting, until June 26th, multinational drills for special operations under the name of ROUSOFEX 15. 

Participating are soldiers from Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, the US and Turkey. 

Read more news from Romania on the RRI's News Flash.

The Week in Review 8-14 June

Prime Minister Victor Ponta retains parliamentary imunity

Although accused of conflict of interests while in office, the Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta has managed to retain his parliamentary immunity. His colleagues in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday rejected the request of the National Anticorruption Directorate for his prosecution. However, the National Anticorruption Directorate is already prosecuting the PM for another three crimes he allegedly committed as a lawyer.

The Ponta Government and the censure motion

The National Liberal Party, the main opposition party, has introduced a censure motion in Parliament. Quite predicibly, the motion did not pass.  The themes of the motion were the organizational disaster at polls abroad, at the presidential election last November, which disallowed thousands to vote, as well as the failure to pass the law on postal voting, which could have prevented the said situations. The Ponta Government is still in power, but one of its ministers, Ioan Rus, has resigned following his offensive statements, in a TV interview, regarding the Romanians working abroad.

Romania’s Defense Strategy

“A strong Romania in Europe and the world” is the subtitle of Romania’s national defence strategy, which the country’s Supreme Defence Council will send to Parliament for approval. At the end of the council’s meeting on Tuesday, president Klaus Iohannis said that the strategy entailed a new concept, that of ‘extended security’. National security is not only about defence; it also has to do with public order, the economy, infrastructure, education, healthcare, the environment and culture, all of which have an impact on national security, the president said. The new strategy reaffirms the importance of Romania’s strategic partnership with the US and its NATO and European Union membership as pillars of the country’s foreign and security policy.

Positive Economic Forecasts for Romania

The World Bank has revised upwards to 3% its economic growth forecast for Romania this year, as compared to the 2.8% world average. Moreover, Romania is likely to register a 3.2% growth rate in 2016, and 3.5% in 2017, which would be lower by 0.4%, though, than what the international financial institution had forecast in winter.  Romania’s economic performance, alongside that of the Czech Republic, has also been confirmed by the Statistical Office of the European Union – Eurostat- according to which in the first quarter of this year the two countries had the highest economic growth in the EU: 4.2%.

Read more on RRI.

Charles, Prince of Wales, member of the jury in a mowing contest in Romania

Charles, Prince of Wales, visits Romania, May 2015.

Charles, Prince of Wales, was a member of the jury in a mowing contest held on Monday in Valea Zalanului, Covasna County, in Romania, according to the state-run news agency Agerpres.

Charles, Prince of Wales, has arrived on Sunday at the property he bought in Covasna few years ago.

On Monday morning, Charles and his guests took a walk in the forest near the village. He has been accompanied by Earl Kalnoky and his wife. After the walk, they went to the hill where the mowing contest took place.

The contest has been won by a team from Valea Zalanului. The other teams had been from the nearby villages: Valea Crisului, Miclosoara and Ghimes-Faget.

      

Prince of Wales in Romania. Photo Credit: Archive/Mediafax.

The VAT On Food Products Will Be Cut On Monday

Foto: Supermarket in Bucharest.

The value-added tax (VAT) will be cut from 24 per cent to nine per cent for food products (e.g. milk, eggs, vegetables, meat, fish, tea, coffee or spices), live animals, plants and seeds, non-alcoholic beverages and food ingredients - according to the news agency Mediafax.

The new tax will come into force on Monday, 1st of June. A nine percent VAT is already in place since September 2013 for bread and bakery products.

Mediafax is quoted as saying that a 12.4 lei piece of cheese of 250 grams will cost 10.9 lei after the new tax will apply.

"The prices will drop with 12 per cent", a representative of a food chain in Romania is quoted. 

The new VAT will be applied in restaurants, too.

The products purchased with the new tax will be shown distinctly on the tax receipt, according to the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici.

He said that the new VAT for food products will generate an 0.6 per cent increase of GDP.