Financial Press Review, 2 May

Adopting the Euro, defective bookkeeping from state companies and amending the law on state-private partnership are today’s main subjects in the financial press.

The Ziarul Financiar opens with the headline ‘The National Bank of Romania insists on adopting the Euro in 2011’.

‘The novelty is the 11 month period when the Euro and the RON will both be used’.
‘We will benefit greatly from adopting the Euro: loans will have lower interest rates, exporters and importers will no longer be influenced by the fluctuation of exchange rates’, the Bursa quotes Minister of Finance Gheorghe Ialomiţianu.

Financial analysts are, however, reluctant and believe that Romania has little chance of meeting the Euro adoption criteria before 2015.

Euro adoption has not yet been publically debated, the Ziarul Financiar quotes chief economist at the National Bank of Romania(NBR), Valentin Lazea.

‘Unfortunately, there have been hardly any reforms after Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007, therefore, adopting the Euro in four years is an optimist prediction, the Săptămâna Financiară quotes Valentin Lazea.

‘Sudden adoption could be dangerous’, Nicolae Chideşciuc, chief economist at ING Bank, warns, the Ziarul Financiar reads.

‘Romania currently meets only one demand of the four in the Treaty of Maastricht, that of a stable exchange rate.

‘There is no way to reduce inflation, the budget deficit or interest rates until 2015’, Curierul Naţional quotes financial analyst Dragoş Cabat.

The Curierul Naţional reads on the first page ‘Will chairmen of state companies be performant from now on?’

‘The main issue with state companies is the defective bookkeeping that leaves room for stealing’, the daily quotes financial analyst Răzvan Orăşanu.

‘Their bookkeeping is not known or certified’.

‘There are many irregularities there and this will continue unless their bookkeeping is checked’.

‘The Government has decided, through an emergency ordinance, to expand the restriction on cars and logistics in state companies to public transportation companies, official sources informed’, the article reads.

Săptămâna Financiară notices ‘sloppy changes for the law on public-private partnership’, ‘after it was harshly criticized by authorities and private investors interested in PPP projects in Romania.

Most of the criticism has been about the unclear object of regulation, and especially about the difference from the concession of contracts and the lack of transparency and real competition in assigning contracts.

‘The Government is causing confusion in its attempt to solve these problems’, which may make people reluctant about a public-private partnership, the Săptămâna Financiară reads.

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