Sparkassen Immobilien yesterday launched the first mall in Southern Bucharest, Sun Plaza, an investment worth a total of 150 million euros.
Sparkassen Immobilien, the real estate investment division of Erste Bank, has a 500 million-euro investment budget to develop projects that mainly target Bucharest, as well as other cities in the country on the shopping centre segment.

Romania’s economy is expected to expand by more than seven percent in 2006, following strong growth in the first two quarters, the head of the country’s main statistics agency said Friday.
“Looking at the signs from the first two quarters … I am convinced that it (Gross Domestic Product growth) will be over seven percent,” said Vergil Voineagu, chairman of the National Statistics Institute.

The institute said the GDP expanded by 7.4 percent in the first half of 2006 as compared with the same period last year.

After several years of deep recession in the 1990s, Romania’s economy has grown strongly in recent years. In 2004, it expanded by 8.3 percent, while in 2005 growth slowed to 4.1 percent due to floods which cause widespread damage to agriculture.

On the day that Romania’s accession to the was EU confirmed, UK investment advisory company and property developer, Westhill, has opened an office in Bucharest, Romania.
“We represent several funds whose investors have a huge appetite to do business in Romania,” confirmed Sheta. “ It’s a great economy, very advance in its way of thinking and is a welcome member into the European Union.

The lack of completed projects has prompted Austrian fund Immoeast, the biggest investor on the local real estate market, to start building two complexes from scratch, with a cumulated value of approximately 130m euros.
Immoeast, a division of the biggest Austrian real estate fund - Immofinanz, which handles operations in Central and Eastern Europe, announced last week it would invest 130m euros in the Jandarmeriei Office and Jandarmeriei Residential projects.

The group is considered to have been the most important buyer of real estate projects in the last three years.
“Office projects in Romania are among our key investments,” stated Karl Petrikovics, chairman of Immoeast’s Board of Directors.

Foreign direct investment made in Romania is expected to reach a record level of approximately 9 billion dollars (roughly 7.1 billion euros).

The agency estimates for this year an economic increase of 5.2 percent and a nominal value of the gross domestic product totaling 113.5 billion dollars (89 billion euros), expected to reach 165.2 billion dollars (130.3 billion euros) by 2010.

The rating agency estimates for the current year a 5.2 percent economic increase and a nominal GDP amounting to 113.5 billion dollars (89.5 billion euros), increasing gradually to 165.2 billion dollars (130.3 billion euros) in 2010.

Romania has been given a grudging go-ahead to join the EU in January, marking the final chapter of a historic expansion.

The Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, put the most positive gloss on the decision, saying it “will mark a historic achievement, the completion of the fifth enlargement of the EU which further pursues the reunification of our European family”.

The President and Prime Minister of Romania welcomed the European Commission judgment that the country is ready to join the EU next year alongside Bulgaria.

Minister of Transportation Radu Berceanu was on hand to inaugurate the extension of the runways at Henri Coanda Airport, which has increased the landing and takeoff capacity of the airport by 30 percent.
The 19 million euro investment is part of the second stage of the program for the development and modernization of the airport, a 111 million euro project.

The number of passengers estimated for this year is 3,5 million and 4.4 million are expected in 2007.