Prince Charles is planning to buy a property in the Romanian region of Transylvania, well known as the birthplace of Vlad The Impaler, inspiration for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.

The prince is looking to buy a property to promote sustainable tourism in the region, a spokesman for Charles announced.

The proposed purchase, in the village of Viscri, would not be for Charles’s personal use, but would be restored and rented out to tourists.

The prince is patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, which works to restore the cultural heritage, economy and nature of the villages in Transylvania.

Property investment company Equest Balkan Properties PLC said it has bought circa 10 hectares of land in the Bucharest West logistics park development in Romania for 5.4 mln eur, and plans to invest an extra 26 mln eur there in developing modern logistics and warehousing space.
At full occupancy, the projected net yield will be in excess of 11 pct for Equest Balkan, the company said.

Romania has progressed considerably on its road to the EU, Romania’s European Integration Minister Anca Boagiu said in interview with newspaper Evenimentul Zilei. Minister Boagiu pointed out that an important step in the justice sphere were the adopting of the new Criminal-Procedural Code, the political parties financing act, as well as the setting up of a National Agency for checking the income of state administration officials.

The Minister also said that the selection of experts in the sphere of agriculture is also in its final stage and added that a number of delays have been made up for in the sphere of health and foods safety.

Israeli group Engel will invest 80 million euros in a Romanian real estate project that will consist in 500 apartments and retail space in Constanta, according to Citigate Dewe Rogerson.

Engel East Europe will build apartments with a cumulated surface area of 50,000 square metres, and the parent company, Engel Europe, will build a 10,000 square metre shopping centre.

Investkredit Bank, part of Austria’s Volksbank group, is in talks related to granting 120m-euro loans to finance real estate projects on the Romanian market.
Since it opened its office in Romania, this March, the financial institution has granted loans worth around 30 million euros.
The Romanian real estate market has considerable potential,” stated Claudius Ferentz, head of Investkredit’s office in Romania.

Dawnay Day Carpathian, a British real estate investment company, has bought the Brasov-based MacroMall shopping centre for 19 million euros. This is the first acquisition by the British firm on the domestic market.

“We are planning to make further acquisitions on the Romanian market, but we are in no rush for the time being. In the case of MacroMall we intend to invest in its development and to bring tenants from abroad, but we cannot disclose the future value of investments for now,” Dawnay Day Carpathian representatives said.

Romania’s National Commission for Prognosis has announced a higher economic growth for the second quarter of 2006 that might exceed the 6.9 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth posted in the first quarter of the current year, the Romanian Rompres news agency reported yesterday.

According to the commission, the higher economic growth in the second quarter might raise the GDP to over 7 per cent for the first semester of the current year.

The industrial output grew in the first six months by 6.7 per cent, in real terms, compared to the same period a year ago. The turnover of the companies dealing in trade was by 16.5 per cent higher than in the same period in 2005.

The construction sector kept on posting growth of 16.4 per cent by the end of June against 2005, in terms of the volume of the construction works.

The annual inflation rate dropped to post-1990 historic lows, at 6.2 per cent in July on the background of reduced foodstuff prices thanks to an agricultural year with no negative events.

According to the commission, the unemployment rate continued to fall down to 5.1 per cent at the end of July, after a historic low of 5.5 per cent recorded in May.