Economic Press Review, November 30

The whole economic pres debates upon the 'autumn forecast' of the European Commission.

'The Executive Agency in Brussels' - the Ziarul financiar writes – 'anticipates that the Romanian economy will fall 1.9 percent this year and increase by 1.5 percent in 2011, mainly fueled by investments, the forecasts being in line with the IMF estimates. The investments are expected to climb to 4.2 percent next year, after contractions of 25.3 percent in 2009, in contrast with 9.9 percent in 2010.

'The domestic demand, being the main growth engine of the Romanian economy during the boom years, up until 2008, and the indicator which decreased significantly because of the recession, will make a comeback next year to increase only marginally, along with a slight positive adjustement in wages.'

The Curierul Naţional also emphasizes that 'the domestic demand will continue to be hampered by fiscal adjustments and the high ratio between debt service and household incomes, which also causes a high rate of bad loans.

The Curierul Naţional also quotes the Europen Commission`s conclusion that 'the improvement of unemployment is aggravated by the low flexibility of the labour market and the layoffs in the public sector'. 'Improving labour market legislation remains a key challenge in a country struggling with a huge informal economy, low employment and a high migration rate.” The title of the article: “The European Commission: The decrease in unemployment could only be on paper.'

The Ziarul Financiar also explained why: 'People who do not receive unemployment benefits do not seem motivated to return to the labour market with legal forms, the comeback of employments will be delayed and negligible next year.'

'Moonlighting - still an appealing option for Romania' the daily Economistul headlines on this topic.

The daily Bursa also selects of yesterday`s forecasts that 'regarding the inflation, the European Commission estimates that in 2010 Romania will have the highest annual inflation rate among the 27 member states (6.1 percent), and the situation will repeat in 2011, when Romania will record an annual inflation rate of 5.5 percent.

'The figures are slightly higher than the ones suggested by previous forecasts, the newspaper notes. The Curierul Naţional points out that 'according to a monthly survey made by the European Commission, the indicator of population and companies trust in the Romanian economy has continued to climb in November, after a hesitating advance in September and a more accelated growth in October.'

The Ziarul financiar publishes an article under the headline 'What measures are foreseen in the project for the new Romanian Labour Code' and examines ten of them, considered to be 'most important'.

'The Labour Code, launched in 2003, is to be amended so that empoyers can make layoffs easier, make more use of temporary labour force or reduce the working hours of employees along with their salary, if the company`s status requires this measures.'

In an article entitled 'What the new Labour Code brings to businessmen' published in the daily Bursa, we read: 'The government will amend the Labour Code in order to positively influence the labour market and to support businessmen during the crisis.'



Translated by Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University