November 19 (SeeNews) - Following are some of the main stories in the online versions of Romanian media on Thursday morning. SeeNews has not verified these reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
ZIARUL FINANCIAR
- The Romanian unit of Israeli bank Leumi, Bank Leumi Romania, reported a 59% rise in its nine-month net profit to 11.6 million lei, the bank’s executive president, Laurentiu Mitrache, said.
- The European Investment Bank said it has extended a 50 million euro credit line to the Romanian unit of Greece's Piraeus Bank to support lending to small businesses.
- The Romanian unit of German utility E.ON sees no sign of economic recovery as the country's officials "have ignored the crisis", head of E.ON Romania Frank Hajdinjak said. He added the company's gas and power sales fell by an annual 16% and 6.0%, respectively, in the first nine months of 2009.
- Sales of Santal juices in Romania decreased by 23.7% on the year in January-September, the brand's owner, Italian food group Parmalat, said.
- Romania's Economy Ministry will sign on Thursday contracts worth 269 million lei to co-finance the construction of new hydro power units. They will have a combined 31.6 megawatts in electricity generation capacity and 30.6 megawatts in heating energy capacity, the daily said.
MEDIAFAX
- The parent banks of Romania's top nine lenders have reaffirmed their commitment to keep their exposure to the country and ensure capital adequacy levels of over 10% for their subsidiaries, the International Monetary Fund said after meeting with banking officials in Brussels.
BUSINESS STANDARD
- The nine-month gross premium income of Romanian insurers rose by 0.09% on the year to 6.68 billion lei, head of the country's insurance regulator Angela Toncescu said.
- The workers of the Bucharest underground railway system ended a two-day strike on Thursday after a court ruled they industrial action was illegal.
(1 euro=4.278 Romanian lei)