Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:01modernly speaking, to
00:00:05I believe we are not discussing a not, that's what I wanted to say, that there have been
00:00:08what was called a differentiated
00:00:10films. We have to learn from tariff, now it's a dynamic tariff, so we're not
00:00:13reinventing the wheel, we're simply applying it. Unfortunately,
00:00:16the new offers for dynamic
00:00:20or differentiated tariffs could
00:00:22only be launched after July 1st last year, because
00:00:26the legislation related to capping
00:00:29made it impossible to apply this
00:00:31this method of
00:00:34offering. Yes,
00:00:36it is a solution for consumers to
00:00:40reduce their bill, especially
00:00:43for those who can modify their consumption profile,
00:00:46meaning instead of consuming more during the evening peak,
00:00:50they consume at noon, and here I would mainly mention
00:00:53prosumers, and I must mention that prosumers have already
00:00:57modified their consumption in such a way
00:01:01as to consume as much as possible during the period when they produce with solar panels, similarly, those who
00:01:05have electric cars or
00:01:08with air conditioning systems that can be moved,
00:01:12heating or cooling can be moved to another period of the day. I would like to
00:01:16complete what Ms. Dărăban said, perhaps a very, very basic
00:01:19thing regarding changing providers,
00:01:23maybe many don't know, but changing a provider
00:01:27doesn't mean pulling other wires. It's even
00:01:30simpler than changing a GSM
00:01:34operator. And the last question is for you, Ms. Dărăban, because I know
00:01:38that to benefit from these dynamic tariffs, you also need smart
00:01:41meters. The government announced that it is making available
00:01:44to distributors 100 million euros for all distributors, so that
00:01:48800,000 smart meters can be
00:01:52installed for consumers. When do you estimate we will have these
00:01:56meters and when could we, for example,
00:01:59resort to these dynamic tariffs in large
00:02:03numbers, obviously if we want to? The government has just published the guide
00:02:06for calling this call, so with all
00:02:10the effort of operators and service
00:02:14providers, probably two years, two and a half,
00:02:17there's more, I understand. Ms. Daniela
00:02:20Dărăban, Mr. Laurențiu Orlescu, thank you for your presence on the show and for
00:02:24all the information you provided. We look
00:02:28forward to welcoming you back, why not, on this show and on another occasion to discuss what is
00:02:32happening in the energy system, especially since people are worried, and rightly
00:02:35so, no one knows what is happening with production, but not all
00:02:39problems come, let's say, downstream in distribution and
00:02:43supply. Thank you, I thank
00:02:46you. The heatwave is putting pressure on economies across Europe, affecting transport,
00:02:49energy production, and productivity, but it is also rapidly changing consumers'
00:02:53shopping lists, according to an XTB analysis. Let's
00:02:57find out what it's about, and we have the data on the
00:03:01screen. Simulations have been done regarding the impact of the heatwave in Europe, and as
00:03:04you can see, in the German economy, precisely because of all these problems
00:03:08related to drought and more, look for yourselves, in the case
00:03:11of industry, a decrease of 1%
00:03:15is taken into account, and overall the German
00:03:18economy is likely to decrease by a percentage between 0.1 and
00:03:210.2% just as a result of these very high temperatures,
00:03:25and in the Eurozone, here are forecasts that show that the economy would
00:03:29could slow down. 1% was the initial forecast, we are going to
00:03:320.6%, and you know what is interesting is that there are
00:03:36losers, but there are also winners, just as I told you a little earlier, look at
00:03:40who wins, where sales are higher, we are talking about purchases of cooling
00:03:43equipment, sun protection equipment, light clothes, swimsuits,
00:03:47ice cream, juices, here sales have increased, and even if we
00:03:51look at shares, at the shares of some manufacturers, look, for example, a
00:03:55manufacturer, a major ice cream manufacturer, their shares have increased by
00:03:58almost 50% compared to April, because now
00:04:02it is hot. Let's move
00:04:05on, and we have an important piece of information
00:04:08for Romanians in the diaspora. The executive approved today
00:04:12the government decision for the operationalization of the "Diaspora Invests
00:04:15at Home" program. The Investment and Development Bank is mandated to act on
00:04:19behalf of the Ministry of Finance to grant and manage de
00:04:22minimis aid in the form of grants aimed at supporting investments made by Romanians
00:04:26from the diaspora. The Ministry allocates a total budget of 100
00:04:30million euros for this program dedicated to Romanians abroad who
00:04:33want to develop local businesses through newly established
00:04:36companies. The support mechanism stipulates that grants can cover up
00:04:40to 60% of the value of the investment loan, not exceeding
00:04:442000 euros for each beneficiary. These grants will
00:04:48be awarded between 2026-2029,
00:04:51within the budget limit. Investment loans for business capitalization
00:04:54can range between 5000 euros and 50000 euros. The maximum
00:04:58loan period is set at 10 years, without the final
00:05:02maturity exceeding December 31st,
00:05:042037.
00:05:07The Investment and Development Bank
00:05:10will be the one to implement
00:05:13this aid scheme based on an agreement that will be
00:05:17signed in the next 30 days with the Ministry of
00:05:20Finance, which
00:05:23means that Romanian
00:05:26citizens who have
00:05:29had their residence or domicile abroad
00:05:31in the last
00:05:35nine months will be provided
00:05:37with
00:05:41a loan of maximum 2000
00:05:45euros, which would represent a
00:05:48grant
00:05:51in a proportion of 60% of the total
00:05:54loan amount they could contract. If
00:05:58you want to buy euros? I have bad news for you. The euro reached
00:06:015.25 lei today. This is according to the reference exchange rate displayed
00:06:05today by the BNR. So, 1 euro is quoted at 5
00:06:08lei and 25 bani. The US dollar is 4 lei and 55 bani.
00:06:12The sterling pound is 6 lei and 12 bani, and the Swiss franc is
00:06:155 lei and 62 bani. In the event that you have loans,
00:06:18it's good to know the ROBOR index rates have remained at the same
00:06:22level as yesterday, practically we haven't seen them
00:06:26change for a while. ROBOR at 3 months
00:06:295.84%, ROBOR at 6 months
00:06:315.92%, ROBOR at 12 months
00:06:345.97%, and IRCC
00:06:375.56%.
00:06:46Consultations on the salary law resumed at Cotroceni Palace.
00:06:49Presidential advisor for economic issues, Radu Burnete, discussed
00:06:53with representatives of the parties that formed the former governing coalition. I am
00:06:57referring here to PSD, PNL, USR, and UDMR. The meeting took place
00:07:00after the presidential administration's representative also met with the leaders of the
00:07:04healthcare system unions at the beginning of the week. Sanitas
00:07:07then announced that it does not accept any law that generates income
00:07:11losses for employees in health and social assistance, and
00:07:14sanitary solidarity demanded guarantees that salary incomes would
00:07:17increase when the new law comes
00:07:20into force. My colleague Alina Sorocean has more
00:07:23information about this topic. Hello Alina, please
00:07:27tell us what information you have and when we could have, I don't know, a result
00:07:31of these
00:07:31discussions?
00:07:36Hello. The discussion at Cotroceni Palace has been going on for more than two hours.
00:07:39Representatives of the political formations that were in government
00:07:42until now, meaning PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR, are
00:07:46face to face with Radu Burnete, presidential advisor for economic issues,
00:07:50and are discussing all those problems that were raised by the
00:07:53unions regarding the unitary salary law. However, sources say that no
00:07:57consensus has been reached, at least not yet. They also
00:08:01discussed the directorship for those
00:08:05working in education. We know very well that the unions said that this
00:08:08bonus, which would be 400 lei in the new salary
00:08:12law, is unacceptable in the context that currently
00:08:16the bonus represents 10% of the salary.
00:08:19Also, there are still dissatisfactions in the health sector, but also in other
00:08:23sectors. Many unions had discussions with social democrats until
00:08:27now, with those from Aur, in recent days, and they demanded that this law
00:08:30not be voted in parliament, mentioning that if it
00:08:33receives the green light, then many salaries will
00:08:36decrease in Romania. Therefore, it is possible
00:08:40that there will be no consensus on this law, either it
00:08:44will reach parliament and would be modified, amended by
00:08:48those from PSD and Aur, so that it no longer has the form that
00:08:52government representatives have shaped so far,
00:08:56or it will not be submitted if an agreement is not
00:08:59reached in the next period. We will see how
00:09:02the whole situation ends, but let's not forget that by the end of August
00:09:05it should receive a green light in parliament, if we are to meet
00:09:09another milestone from the PNR.
00:09:13Alina Sorocean, thank you for all this information. Meanwhile, Romanians are reducing
00:09:17purchases in almost all categories, and this is reflected in the lower
00:09:21revenues of retailers. Retail trade turnover decreased by
00:09:245.6% in the first 6 months compared to the same period last
00:09:28year. This is according to data from the National Institute of Statistics published today.
00:09:31Let's see what it's about, where
00:09:34we ended up, what product categories we gave up the most.
00:09:38First of all, sales of non-food products decreased by
00:09:417.3% compared to the same period last year,
00:09:44practically this category includes, for example, clothes. Moreover,
00:09:48what is interesting about this data from the NS is that we also see a decrease
00:09:52in sales of food, beverages, and tobacco,
00:09:55a decrease of 4.2%. And
00:09:58last but not least, as you have also seen, because pump prices have
00:10:02continued to rise, fuel sales have also decreased by 4% compared
00:10:06to the same period. We are discussing this topic with economic
00:10:09analyst Flavius Iacubovici, president of the association.
00:10:25Practically, please explain to us what are the main causes? Primarily,
00:10:30consumption crisis, but that
00:10:33Romanians feel and find less
00:10:37money in their pockets, why? Not necessarily because they have become
00:10:40more frugal overnight, because we know very well, Romanians are always
00:10:44quite spendthrift, but with an inflation of over
00:10:4810%, this Romanian with the salary he has
00:10:52buys less, practically the same
00:10:55with less money, that means
00:10:58we have a reduction caused by
00:11:01inflation, and a second factor is that
00:11:05expenses for food products,
00:11:08non-food items have also increased, so practically we have a double, let's
00:11:12say a double standard, moreover, the reduction
00:11:16in trade is also very large
00:11:19for non-food products, what does this mean for
00:11:23the economy, that Romanians postpone those non-essential
00:11:26expenses, they can postpone replacing the television for about
00:11:3012, 18 months, they might not buy clothes
00:11:34anymore and recycle them or stretch what they
00:11:37have, to speak a bit non-academically, what they have right now, and
00:11:41if they had to replace an item, let's say, I don't know,
00:11:45an electronic device that broke, they will try to
00:11:48repair it rather than replace it, this means
00:11:51a reduction in the non- food sector, hello.
00:11:57buy second-hand or buy second- hand, yes, that's an option, and if
00:12:01we look at the market, businesses in this area have developed quite a lot, especially those
00:12:05second-hand shops, if we say a bit of luxury, meaning not what
00:12:08we knew before, some 10, 15 years ago, we look
00:12:12at some second-hand shops that have quite good products in terms of
00:12:15standard. Beyond these goods, let's call them that,
00:12:19which are not necessarily strictly necessary, statistics show that people have even started to
00:12:23buy less food and drinks. What does this tell us? I don't know
00:12:27if they have started to buy less
00:12:30food and drinks, and I think we should look very
00:12:33analytically at what is happening in the market. First of all,
00:12:36Romanians are more frugal in times of crisis. We know
00:12:40that we are somewhat champions, with quotation marks,
00:12:44when it comes to food waste. A second
00:12:47factor is that Romanians no longer eat out as much
00:12:51at restaurants and choose to cook more at home.
00:12:55So this also means a reduction in costs and
00:12:58savings. And thirdly, Romanians no longer
00:13:02buy established brands, they turn to private
00:13:05labels, a monobrand of stores, which means a
00:13:09lower cost for them and a rise
00:13:13in this market niche. It's interesting that this increase
00:13:16in fuel prices has started to be reflected in lower revenues for
00:13:19petroleum product distributors. Are we
00:13:22slowly approaching those
00:13:25limits where many Romanians can no longer afford to drive, because
00:13:29it's very interesting what that psychological threshold is when people will say, "That's
00:13:32it," I think we are already seeing a decrease
00:13:36in mobility, the psychological threshold I think
00:13:40we all agree that this or I don't know, a two-digit
00:13:43price at the pump is the maximum,
00:13:47if we look, it actually shows this decrease in mobility, and we
00:13:51are not talking about that mobility in, I don't know, going to work
00:13:54by car where there are quite a few alternative options much
00:13:58cheaper and with substantial savings per month of
00:14:02a few hundred lei, we are talking about those optional
00:14:05trips, perhaps if I want to go to the seaside and
00:14:09we used to go with another family, we no longer go each with
00:14:13his own car, but we group both families with
00:14:16a single car, and behold, we see a
00:14:19decrease in fuel expenses.
00:14:23If we look at the pumps and gas stations, as
00:14:27they are called, we see that the volume
00:14:31has decreased, but the turnover has increased, yes,
00:14:34so the costs have increased on fuel
00:14:38acquisition due to taxes
00:14:41and excises and VAT, which are very high and
00:14:44contribute a lot to the price per liter, but
00:14:47almost 3 lei is only the cost of the excise tax, on top of that
00:14:51excise tax there is also VAT which is not 19% but 20.
00:14:55Okay, now in August this effect somehow
00:14:59dilutes, but we are seeing quite
00:15:02a big increase. You know what's interesting, I was looking at the growth percentages and
00:15:06I was discussing this with the show's producer before we started, in the case of fuel
00:15:10sales, we have a decrease of 4%, and in
00:15:13the case of non-food products, it's over seven.
00:15:16Can we deduce from this that we give up the car
00:15:20harder than, exactly as you said, other expenses
00:15:24that, let's say, may not be strictly necessary? We are still used
00:15:27to the car and it is difficult for people, we know that Romanians are quite lazy and
00:15:31the car often, especially if it rains, is also used as
00:15:35an umbrella and it is somewhat a standard for Romanians
00:15:38to drive regardless of
00:15:41long or short distances, and indeed if you ask a Romanian to
00:15:45choose between, let's say, the convenience of driving
00:15:49versus giving up buying, I don't
00:15:53know, a television, a washing machine, a new refrigerator or some clothes, they will
00:15:57certainly choose to give up
00:16:00these things and keep the car. For
00:16:04companies, Mr. Iacubovici, what consequences can arise from this? because
00:16:08they, in turn, are also affected by this record
00:16:11inflation, over 10%, they have employees
00:16:14to pay and what do you know, revenues are starting to
00:16:17decrease, they are not at all what they used to be. Indeed, if we
00:16:21look at companies, we see a rather large increase in
00:16:23insolvencies in the first half of the year,
00:16:27especially in the service sector, a very affected
00:16:30sector is the Horeca sector, where Romanians, as I said, no longer
00:16:34eat in restaurants. They no longer go to cafes, they no
00:16:37longer spend so much money from their salary on these, let's
00:16:41say, innocent pleasures of each individual, if we look at
00:16:45the stocks in these sectors, we see that they have a much
00:16:48slower rotation in this period,
00:16:52why? because there is no longer the same consumption and Romanians choose to manage
00:16:55their money very well, basically on expenses
00:16:59that cannot be postponed, which have increased a lot, if we look at
00:17:03the cost of energy, if we look at rents. which have increased by
00:17:0740%, energy by over 60%, these are
00:17:10costs that we cannot postpone and we redirect
00:17:13money from some expenses that were somewhat
00:17:17optional to these mandatory ones, and this is
00:17:20reflected in the economy in a much lower consumption, practically
00:17:24we are somehow sabotaging ourselves because our economy is
00:17:27based on consumption, it is a
00:17:30we are somewhat in a vicious
00:17:33circle from my point of view, so it seems.
00:17:37smaller, those companies will have smaller profits, lower
00:17:41taxes, unemployment will also increase, if we look at the labor
00:17:45market we see and witness many layoffs, especially
00:17:48large-scale layoffs, at large companies that
00:17:52you would say, I don't know, these multinationals
00:17:55should somehow support the labor market and the economy, but these
00:17:59are also in an economic zone and cost
00:18:03reduction, and due to the advancement
00:18:06of technology and artificial intelligence where many
00:18:10processes are replaced, they choose to
00:18:12replace human personnel. We have two more minutes in this show.
00:18:16Mr. Iacubovici, at an individual level, what can we do to increase
00:18:20our income? Well, to increase income, there are two
00:18:23main options and we will dissect them a bit. First, reduce
00:18:27expenses, but as we know, Romanians have already tightened their belts
00:18:30a lot in the last year and it is getting harder and harder to tighten
00:18:34the belt, so we turn to the second
00:18:38option of diversifying our income: first of all, with
00:18:41the active money we
00:18:44produce, yes, an active income source
00:18:47would be the salary, we should invest
00:18:50in a passive income source, practically putting money to work for
00:18:54us, if we have some money saved in a
00:18:57demand deposit without interest, this means
00:19:01that inflation automatically eats away at that
00:19:05money and we will have to make it work for us. We should invest in
00:19:08government bonds, treasury bills or in a deposit which, okay,
00:19:12now due to inflation, does not
00:19:14cover the yield, but if we look at forecasts
00:19:18for Q3, Q4 and the beginning of
00:19:212027, where inflation will reach the target of
00:19:252.5-3%, automatically the yields will exceed
00:19:29Flaviu Seacupovici, thank you for your presence on the show.
00:19:32We look forward to welcoming you back to our studio on another occasion to talk about what is happening in the economy.
00:19:36We have information before concluding. The Bucharest Transport
00:19:39Company requested insolvency. The request was
00:19:43registered today at the Bucharest Tribunal in a case where the public transport company
00:19:46is listed as debtor. BMF, Grup Soluții
00:19:49Integrate SRL appears as creditor, according to news.ro.
00:19:53The General Council of the Capital voted last month for the insolvency of the Bucharest
00:19:56Transport Company. The initiative belonged to Mayor Ciprian Ciucu, who presented it
00:20:00as the only option for salvation. Currently, STB has
00:20:03debts equivalent to the general mayoralty's budget for one
00:20:08year, and risks bankruptcy.
00:20:11This was our show for today, I am Cătălin Deacu and I thank you for your attention.
00:20:15We will see you tomorrow at 4 PM with new economic topics of interest to you.
00:20:19Until then, I wish you all the best.
00:20:42They were born in Romania, they feel Romanian, they think Romanian
00:20:46and they want the best for the country from which they left to conquer
00:20:50the world. Brilliant personalities from art,
00:20:53science, research tell their stories in an impressive
00:20:56series of portrait
00:21:00the best. Romanian Presences,
00:21:04a project carried out by Romanian Television with the support of the Department
00:21:08for Romanians
00:23:21Like in a storybook painting that fills the soul and takes your
00:23:25breath away, the Făgăraș Massif stretches
00:23:28for almost 3000 km2, crowned
00:23:32by its ridges and peaks, which exceed
00:23:352500
00:23:36m.
00:23:44the largest alpine unit in the country is located between
00:23:47the Olt gorge to the west and the
00:23:50Piatra Craiului Massif to the east, at an aerial
00:23:54distance of over 70
00:23:56km.
00:24:02Ogrășul is a crystalline schist
00:24:05mountain, similar to, I don't know, the
00:24:09Bavarian Alps, for example,
00:24:12and automatically this gives it its sharp forms in the erosion
00:24:16zones. So, the central area, somewhere around
00:24:1940 km, is a very
00:24:21rugged area, the ridge has a length of
00:24:2570 km, of which for 55 km it does not drop below
00:24:292100 m except in Curmătura Zârnei, which
00:24:32makes it the longest mountain ridge in
00:24:35Europe, obviously there are much higher ridges, we are not talking about altitude, we are talking about
00:24:39length, so those higher ridges are shorter,
00:24:42înalte sunt mai
00:24:44scurte,
00:24:49and its water. The Paltinului leisurely stretches in the sunlight,
00:24:52watched over by the majestic Paltinului Tower.
00:24:55Paltinului.
00:25:01Among the ridges, the Negoiu Lespezi area appears unexpectedly.
00:25:16The impressive, seductive Muntenegoiu
00:25:19calls, like a siren's song.
00:25:21sirenă.
00:25:27The ridge trail descends into a somewhat more difficult
00:25:31cable section.
00:25:35Great attention is needed at every step,
00:25:38stones can dislodge at any time, causing
00:25:42sprains or
00:25:43dislocations for the hiker.
00:25:47In case of rain, the danger increases due to slippery
00:25:51rocks and cables that attract
00:25:54lightning.
00:25:58In summer, it is much, much easier than in winter, clearly,
00:26:02but at the same time, having
00:26:05a very large area, it creates its own microclimate,
00:26:08this means that fronts that might
00:26:11rain lower down can snow here, I'm talking about July
00:26:14or August, no matter how hot it is, you never know how
00:26:18fast the weather will change, because it's not an exaggeration to say
00:26:22that in half an hour summer can turn into
00:26:25winter and there are many such changes that cannot even be predicted
00:26:29by meteorologists.
00:26:33The immensity of the mountain. envelops the traveler and draws him
00:26:36into a lunar landscape, with large slabs and rocks
00:26:40with strange shapes.
00:26:51We are at Lake Galbena, at 2200 m altitude,
00:26:55in the Făgăraș Massif. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful alpine lake in
00:26:59the entire massif.
00:27:06Ioan Slavici, in his book "Bătrâni", said
00:27:09that here at Lake Galbena there
00:27:13used to be a monastery of
00:27:14nuns.
00:27:22Legend says that the Haiducs hid all the gold they had here,
00:27:26hence the name of the lake,
00:27:27"yellow".
00:27:58The grandeur of the Făgăraș Mountains earned them the name of
00:28:01the Alps of Romania, and a
00:28:04hike to Negoiu includes a little bit of
00:28:08all the beauties of the massif: glacial cirques and
00:28:11lakes, steep ridges,
00:28:14jagged rocks, eternal snows and
00:28:17landscapes that delight to ecstasy.