Financial Press Review, 18 March

Today’s Ziarul Financiar opens with an article that draws the conclusion that ‘foreign investors are on the point of winning the half-year-long battle to amend the work legislation, which is considered an impediment to investment’.

On Wednesday the Constitutional Court of Romania will discuss the constitutionality of the new Labour Code, one of the most controversial bills in the past years,’ the daily reads. ‘Labour Code battle taken to Constitutional Court,’ a Bursa headline reads. All the dailies mention a survey by the ZEW Institute with the Austrian Erste Group which concludes that financial analysts’ perception of the Romanian economy has improved in the past six months.

Today’s Bursa opens with the headline ‘Port of Constantza Sisterhood’. The article comes after yesterday’s control at Oil Terminal Society operating in Port of Constantza.

The Romanian state is the majority shareholder, over 59 percent of shares, as the Curierul Naţional points out. ‘Usually,’ the Bursa reads ‘the two buddies should be investigated,’ a former customs director and a chairman from the Maritime Ports Administration. ‘The two have set up a customs commission firm on the name of the father-in-law, who, with false documents, turns imported products into Romanian output. (…) Moreover, they assess the imports below value. (…) The importers are Arabs. (…) The former director hides his enormous profits in real estate investment on the Romanian seashore, through his father’s company. Basically, he took from his buddy’s father-in-law and gave to his father’.

The Curierul Naţional opens with the headline ‘Why the seashore is hopeless’. ‘The hotel-owners are not to blame for their high prices, but the state, whose taxes are higher than in the surrounding countries,’ Paul Mărăşoiu, director in the respective ministry, claims. The articles argues in favor of a thorough reconfiguration of the criteria in allocating beaches, given that in the past five years these beaches have been given to companies that are not tourism-related’.

Under the headline ‘Bracing ourselves for food crisis’, the Bursa reads: ‘The Government has announced a series of measures to support the agricultural sector’. ‘It’s raining promises’, a subheading reads.

‘Farmers claim that the announced measures are necessary, but complain that the Government is only interested in agriculture around elections’ time. Their dissatisfaction stems from the fact that many of the schemes are still projects and will only come into force in a few months and will also need the green light from the European Commission. (…) While field-cultures and stock raising will benefit from higher subsidies this year, vegetables and fruit producers are being discriminated against and do not understand why they are not a priority to the Government ‘.

A Ziarul Financiar headline: ‘Another low exchange rate: the Euro is now below 4.18 RON’. Yesterday the sole currency fell below 4.18 RON both on the Foreign Exchange Interbank Market and the official NBR exchange rate for the first time since May 2010. Again, the evolution of the RON is closely related to low trading rates and completely unrelated to the evolution of foreign currency.


Translated by: Gabriela Lungu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University