Financial Press Review, 27 July

The Ziarul Financiar opens with a series entitled "The first X-ray of the biggest state-owned companies".

The article refers to the fact that Fondul Proprietatea has posted the financial situation and annual reports of its biggest 20 companies, most of which state-owned. "This is a first for state-owned companies, notorious for their lack of transparency when it comes to their financial situation", the daily writes.

The data show increased spending on salaries at most companies, despite the fact that they reported decreasing business and profits last year.

Thus, the reports have revealed jubilee bonuses, retirement bonuses and free power after retirement at Hidroelectrica and tiny profits at Nuclearelectrica, less than 4 million euro, despite its 2 billion euro assets.

A Ziarul Financiar headline reads: "State-owned companies can truly become public by stock exchange listing". "Transparency is the first tool towards efficiency", writes Sorin Pâslaru, editor in chief.

If the state did not do it, FP will. However, the highest degree of transparency comes from the stock exchange. For now, "only 10 of the one hundred companies with the biggest turnover are quoted".

The dame daily prints an article signed by Adrian Vasilescu, with the headline "Restructuring test between illusion and reality". Restructuring can bring "more jobs and less unemployment", the Advisor of the NBR Governor claims. "That is, of course, if we stop confusing layoffs with restructuring. Too many companies have already laid off much of their staff, thinking that is what restructuring means".

They have, in fact, produced a surrogate restructuring. And the added value has fallen; the old structures have shown their weakness.

The Bursa addresses a statement made by the Minister of Agriculture below the headline "We need to store 20-30 million tons worth of grain".

Valeriu Tabără insisted that we need to build storage units for our crops. "For certain agricultural produce, especially grain, each farm should have its own bin", the Bursa writes.

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