Financial Press Review, 4 May

The perspectives of the Romanian-American relations, monitoring the arrears by the National Bank, the capitalization of the recoverable energy and more expensive Dacia car designs in Romania than in some European countries are the main topics of today’s financial press.

Under the headline ‘Historic decision: U.S. place Romania under missile shield, the Ziarul Financiar wrote that the direct involvement of our country to the U.S. shield ‘could also strongly enhance the economic relations. ‘

‘Unfortunately, trade remained quite low toward the potential even in recent years, not too far away – keeping the proportions – from the levels reached during the communist period, when Romania enjoyed the privilege of the most-favored-nation.

Bilateral trade has barely reached to 1.1 billion euros last year, slightly representing more than 1 percent of Romania's foreign trade, while the United States slipped to number 11 among foreign investors.

Under the heading ‘Transit with economic effects’, the Bursa published an article revealing the local effects on Deveselu and on the Constanta area, as a result of the approved decisions during yesterday’s meeting of the Supreme Defence Council (CSAT).

‘NBR beocmes guardian of the arrears’, the Ziarul Financiar headlined an article in which we read:

‘National Bank has to monitor and audit the implementation of strategic plans of the Finances in order to reduce the arrears incurred by local authorities and companies with state-owned capital, which still remains the most sensitive issue of the economy and the biggest obstacle to reforming the public system’ .

The state arrears towards the companies have reached the end of the first quarter to about one billion lei.

About the economic restructuring, which can not be avoided by any measure, the Ziarul Financiar wrote Adrian Vasilescu, under the headline ‘A bridge not too far. ‘

‘After, for many years, we depleted most of the resources in a desperate attempt to raise the living standard, we realized that the price of consumption without reforms keeps getting harder and harder to pay.’

‘Because we pay it by outdated services, by industry and agriculture that can not ensure the required supply, by labor productivity that holds back the wage increases and helps to raise the inflation instead’, the BNR Governor adviser revealed.

The Curierul Naţional published an article entitled ‘Will recoverable energy sector succeed in drawing interest of foreign investors in Romania?’

The newspaper provided the answer:

‘Most transactions in this sector will be achieved especially by clarifying the legal provisions of the field in the future.’

‘It is also possible that the big European players decide to invest in conventional generation capacities, given that the additional electricity demand in the coming years will be covered only from renewable sources.’

The Ziarul Financiar published an analytical article entitled ‘Where are the cheapest Dacias’ , aiming to explain why ‘the Duster and Sandero designs are even a few hundred euros cheaper on some European markets than in Romania, while Romanians have the opportunity to buy the cheapest Logan.’

‘Thus Dacia's commercial strategy is in line with the policy of the major automakers, which altered the offers and prices of the products range depending on the country where cars are sold. ‘

‘The Dacia production last year reached a record level of 341,000 units, a level close to the maximum capacity of the plant. (...) Given that the exports have come to occupy almost the entire production capacity of the plant, and its profitability has declined over the past four years, ‘noted the newspaper.

Translated by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University