The European Commission paved the way Friday for Ford Romania SA to access a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will help finance the development of a low-emissions engine at its Craiova plant. The EIB is lending a total of 600 million euros (896 million dollars) to Ford Europe for the project, of which 200 million euros will go to Ford Werke GmbH in Germany and 400 million euros to Ford Romania.

The loans, and the corresponding guarantees being provided by the Romanian government, will cover a five-year period, from 2009 to 2014, with a maturity of seven years.

Romania has halted the sale of money-losing aircraft maker Avioane SA to Czech company Aero Vodochody because of a contract dispute, the country's privatization agency said Monday. 

Romania is progressing slowly, with small steps, but is on the right track. However, further results are needed. This is the conclusion that stands out in the draft of the European Commission for Romania, which is still under discussion in Brussels.

It seems that the report will be favorable, although Romania will receive a low rating for its fight against corruption.

The third largest insurance company in Europe - the Italian Assicurazioni Generali SpA, has acquired Romanian insurers Rai and Ardaf and thus increased its market share in the country, the company reported.

Today, the Presidency of the EU Council and the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation signed an addition to the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Community and Switzerland, determining Swiss financial contribution for the aims of EU enlargement, according to which Bulgaria receives contribution of 76 million Swiss francs.

Romania will direct EU funds to the total value of nearly 32 billion dollars for a period of 7 years; it became clear after an announcement by the Finance Minister of the country.

This, according to the minister, would help to increase the total value of the gross domestic product by about 15-20%.

The construction investment company Swiss Golf & Leisure has announced its intentions to invest in a golf complex in Romania totaling up to approximately 50 million euro.

The company was established in 2006 by five shareholders from Switzerland and Romania, as each of them has an equal stake in it. Its activities are targeted mainly in the construction field.

Romania has attracted the record 2.3 billion euros of direct foreign investments during the first four months of the year, which represents a double increase compared to same period of the last year, informed Ziarul Financiar.

The value of foreign direct investment, attracted only in April, are almost 1.6 billion dollar according to the data of the Central Bank of Romania.

In times where the credit crisis is hitting seriously real estate markets in the world, things look ever better in our northern neighbour Romania, writes Europa.re.

According to data issued earlier this month, the growth of Romanian economy for the first quarter was truly remarkable - 8.2%. This is nearly three times more compared to the EU average of for the same period.