Financial Press Review, 11 March

The Ziarul Financiar opens with the headline "Inflation bursts and cancels all chances for lower interest rate". In February the annual inflation rate spiked to 7.6 percent.

"The NBR and analysts have been taken aback by the obvious rise in food prices", the daily concludes.

The daily lists all possible consequences of a higher inflation: "the NBR interest rate will not fall this year, better yet, it might rise, the RON will continue to appreciate against EURO, around 4.1 RON/Euro, as anti-inflation leverage, interest rates in RON might increase, making credit in the national currency more expensive, spending on interest for securities at the Ministry of Finance might increase, and the target inflation rate (3 percent give or take one percentage point) will be once again missed".

The Ziarul Financiar analyses the causes of a 50 percent increase in potato price in the last year. "Last year"s potato output only covers a third of the demand on the domestic market".

There are few plantations in our country.

"In the EU the output per hectare is double, because European producers use irrigation and fertilization systems". As a consequence, Romanian producers cannot compete with the prices offered by the big European ones.

"Prices will continue to rise till in the first half-year".

Under the headline "Some companies may pay VAT when they cash in.

Will the European Commission agree?" the Curierul Naţional discusses an emergency ordinance project at the Ministry of Finance that might need derogation from Fiscal Code provisions.

The Bursa prints an article on the same subject: "VAT benefits for some construction companies".

More precisely, only for "those constructors that are part of the National Infrastructure Development Programme, meant to restructure 10, 000 kilometers of national roads.

"The work will be financed by a supplier credit, which means that companies will use their own capital or will apply for loans to carry it out, and in 2013 the state will pay them back.

The legislation draft stirred a wave of controversy in the business environment because people find it discriminatory", the newspaper writes.

"It looks like a pre-electoral project", the Bursa quotes Cristian Pârvan, the General Secretary of the Businessmen's Association of Romania.

The Ziarul Financiar comments on the statement President Traian Băsescu gave on Wednesday, criticising "the outdated infrastructure" under the headline "Whom has the president ended up laughing at when he is mocking Romanian roads?".

"Saying that you can have a better picture of Romania from the helicopter because the roads are bad when you have been at the top of the state for six years and your people at the Minister of Transports have recently 12 billion euros without any result sounds like cynicism turned into mockery", the newspaper writes.

"The National Company of Motorways and National Roads spent around 2 billion euros per year between 2005 and 2010. There are no reports on how the money was spent and no one to blame for the poor management", the author of the article, Sorin Pâslaru, points out.

The Ziarul Financiar comments on the 2011 "Rabla" Programme. According to the Minister of Environment, Laszlo Borbely, this year, the "Rabla" Programme will allow people to buy new cars and scrap cars that are older than ten years.

"This is the second time the scheme has been extended after last year judicial persons were allowed to take part in the scheme along natural persons.

The scheme was supposed to start on 1 February, but it was postponed until 18 March", the newspaper writes.


Translated by: Gabriela Lungu and Raluca Mizdrea
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University