December 16 (SeeNews) - Following are some of the main stories in the online versions of Romanian media on Wednesday morning. SeeNews has not verified these reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
ZIARUL FINANCIAR
- Romanian leasing company Romstal Leasing, owned by Belgian banking and insurance group KBC, plans to close half of its branches across the country and to lay off 25% of its employees due to significant fall in activity this year, sources closed to the company said.
- More than 127,000 Romanian companies have shut down their operations in January-November this year, up by 12 times from a year earlier, data from the National Trade Register Office showed.
- Italian Pirelli's tyre plant in Romania will sign this week a 50 million euro loan agreement with the European Investment Bank to finance an increase of its production capacity, Pirelli Romania director Giuseppe Cangelosi said.
MEDIAFAX
- About 2,000 employees of several state-owned companies in the portfolio of Romania's Economy Ministry will be laid off next year in order to meet demands of the International Monetary Fund under a 20 billion euro aid package, deputy Economy Minister Tudor Serban said.
- The International Monetary Fund will send a new mission to Romania in January to assess the country's performance under the 20 billion euro IMF-led aid package, the head of the IMF mission to Romania, Jeffrey Franks, said. He added that the fund has reached an agreement with the government on Romania's budget for 2010.
BUSINESS STANDARD
- Romanian chemical producer Oltchim could complete negotiations with the country's top oil and gas group Petrom on the acqusition of Arpechim oil refinery by the end of the week, sources closed to the talks said.
- The turnover of the Romanian capital's largest international airport Otopeni rose by 3.5% on the year to 254.5 million lei in the first ten months, the daily reported quoting news agency NewsIn.
- Romanian steel plant ArcelorMittal Galati will maintain the salaries of its employees at the 2008 level, even though trade unions have asked for a 18% rise in 2010, the daily qouted news agency NewsIn.
(1 euro=4.2489 Romanian lei)