Romania's budget deficit in the first nine months of the year was of EUR 5.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, below the target set by the International Monetary Funds, which was of EUR 6.5 billion.

Several large retailers will open stores next year in Polus Center Constanta mall, which has been re-branded as Maritimo Shopping Center after the Immofinanz takeover. Swedish clothing retailer H&M and sports retailer Decathlon will open stores in the mall in 2011, when Immofinanz plans to finalize works on the shopping center. French hypermarket chain Auchan will also have a store in the Constanta shopping mall, which should be ready in September next year.

*Austrians have the highest investment potential in Romania in the next ten years – in Ziarul Financiar
*AmCham asks the Govt to keep the flat tax – in Ziarul Financiar
*Romanian Leu surprisingly strengthens, helped by foreign news – in Ziarul Financiar
*One of three Dacias sold to export is a Duster – in Ziarul Financiar
*Large retailers continue expansion: H&M, C&A and Decathlon, tenants in Maritimo Constanta – in Ziarul Financiar

The Chevrolet brand sold 26 percent more cars in Romania in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period of last year, according to the company. The Chevrolet brand went up four places in the top of car makers, reaching the sixth position.

Retailer Kaufland Romania will open a second hypermarket in Bistrita on a land plot three times larger than the one which hosts the existing Kaufland store in the city, according to Agerpress newswire.

Two investment funds, including a U.S.-based one, are interested in buying stakes in Romanian chemical company Oltchim Ramnicu-Valcea, should it be privatized, according to Karoly Borbely, state secretary within the local Economy Ministry, quoted by Mediafax newswire.

Romania may receive by the end of the year another tranche out of the EUR 13 billion stand-by loan from the International Monetary Fund, a fund official said Monday, quoted by Mediafax. The money will enter the central bank's reserves, said Jeffrey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Bucharest (in picture, right).

The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania), which represents 300 member companies, has called for maintaining the flat tax in Romania, along with capping social insurance contributions. These should become the central element for the country’s regional competitiveness, especially as Romania competes with countries having more favorable, stable and predictable fiscal regimes.

(Update adds details about the management contract and about the measures planned by Asesoft group in the last paragraph)

Romanian company Asesoft group has taken over the management of Realitatea Media group and plans to invest EUR 75 million in the group in the following five years, according to Asesoft. Realitatea Media was controlled by media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vantu. Realitatea Media runs Realitatea TV, The Money Channel TV station, as well as several media products in print.

The airline traffic in Romania reached a volume of 4.57 million passengers for the first six months of the year, according to data from the Transport and Infrastructure Minister. Only 715,000 of these passengers used internal flights, while the rest went on international routes.

Romania's budget deficit in the first nine months of the year was of EUR 5.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, below the target set by the International Monetary Funds, which was of EUR 6.5 billion.

Several large retailers will open stores next year in Polus Center Constanta mall, which has been re-branded as Maritimo Shopping Center after the Immofinanz takeover. Swedish clothing retailer H&M and sports retailer Decathlon will open stores in the mall in 2011, when Immofinanz plans to finalize works on the shopping center. French hypermarket chain Auchan will also have a store in the Constanta shopping mall, which should be ready in September next year.

*Austrians have the highest investment potential in Romania in the next ten years – in Ziarul Financiar
*AmCham asks the Govt to keep the flat tax – in Ziarul Financiar
*Romanian Leu surprisingly strengthens, helped by foreign news – in Ziarul Financiar
*One of three Dacias sold to export is a Duster – in Ziarul Financiar
*Large retailers continue expansion: H&M, C&A and Decathlon, tenants in Maritimo Constanta – in Ziarul Financiar

The Chevrolet brand sold 26 percent more cars in Romania in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period of last year, according to the company. The Chevrolet brand went up four places in the top of car makers, reaching the sixth position.

Retailer Kaufland Romania will open a second hypermarket in Bistrita on a land plot three times larger than the one which hosts the existing Kaufland store in the city, according to Agerpress newswire.

Two investment funds, including a U.S.-based one, are interested in buying stakes in Romanian chemical company Oltchim Ramnicu-Valcea, should it be privatized, according to Karoly Borbely, state secretary within the local Economy Ministry, quoted by Mediafax newswire.

Romania may receive by the end of the year another tranche out of the EUR 13 billion stand-by loan from the International Monetary Fund, a fund official said Monday, quoted by Mediafax. The money will enter the central bank's reserves, said Jeffrey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Bucharest (in picture, right).

The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania), which represents 300 member companies, has called for maintaining the flat tax in Romania, along with capping social insurance contributions. These should become the central element for the country’s regional competitiveness, especially as Romania competes with countries having more favorable, stable and predictable fiscal regimes.

(Update adds details about the management contract and about the measures planned by Asesoft group in the last paragraph)

Romanian company Asesoft group has taken over the management of Realitatea Media group and plans to invest EUR 75 million in the group in the following five years, according to Asesoft. Realitatea Media was controlled by media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vantu. Realitatea Media runs Realitatea TV, The Money Channel TV station, as well as several media products in print.

The airline traffic in Romania reached a volume of 4.57 million passengers for the first six months of the year, according to data from the Transport and Infrastructure Minister. Only 715,000 of these passengers used internal flights, while the rest went on international routes.