Oil and gas company Rompetrol has invested over USD 300,000 in corporate social responsibility programs in Romania, mostly focusing on health care and environment protection in 2010, according to the company.

he emergency ordinance 50/2010 on consumer lending contracts should only be applied to new contracts and not to existing ones, said Jeffrey Franks, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation in Romania. Moreover, this will be a condition for Romania receiving the next IMF loan tranche, according to Franks. “The way the European directive was transposed into the Romanian legislation will trigger difficulties and costs.

Honda Marine, the Honda division which produces boat engines, has entered the Romanian market with a EUR 0.5 million investment.

Carrefour Romania, the local subsidiary of French retailer Carrefour, will borrow EUR 60 million from its main shareholder Carrefour Netherland B.V., according to the Official Journal.

Romania will keep troops in Afghanistan until the accomplishment of the NATO mission in that country, Romanian President Traian Basescu (in picture) said after meeting Alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the organisation's headquarters on Thursday.

Romania will return to economic growth in 2011, most likely of around 1.5 percent, representatives of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday, following media estimations that the country would remain mired in recession for the third consecutive year. Jeffrey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Bucharest (in picture, right), said the media reports were incorrect and the Fund doesn't forecast an economic decline for next year.

Tubular producer ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Iasi will invest USD 11 million in a new cold formed production line with a capacity of 120,000 tones per year, in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Romanian state-owned hydropower generator Hidroelectrica could invest some EUR 18 million in the next years to set up wind turbines on its hydropower plants along the river Siret, company operational director Dragos Zachia said Thursday.

Atteco Club has invested EUR 1.8 million in Oxygen Club in Sun Plaza shopping center in Bucharest, which includes a bowling and pool area, a club, restaurant, terrace and playground. The owners estimate the club, which will be inaugurated on Thursday evening, October 28, will post a EUR 700,000 turnover in 2010, having run since May this year.

Orange Romania, the largest mobile operator in Romania, reported revenues of EUR 246 million in the third quarter, 9 percent lower compared to the same period of last year, according to the quarterly report of mother company France Telecom Group.

A diamond necklace worth EUR 24,000 and a pair of shoes donated by Madonna will be auctioned off at the sixth edition of the Halloween Charity Ball that will take place on October 30 in Romania’s capital city Bucharest.

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, a movie directed by Andrei Ujica, will be screened on Thursd