Loading ...Romania's national dailies of Tuesday give main coverage to a monetary policy session of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) scheduled for today; the stabilisation of the local currency; the recommendations of the World Bank for the recovery of Romania's pension system; the confidence index among business people and the index of consumers' confidence in the Romanian economy.
Financiarul reports that ex-Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States Alan Greenspan has accepted the request of Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc for advise on monetary issues facing Romania and the European Union, and the arrangement will become operational starting next Monday.
The paper quotes Greenspan as saying he is honoured to have been asked and he accepted the request of Boc as a new challenge. At the same time, he said, he will have the opportunity to work with one of the most illustrious European central bank governors.
The paper says Greenspan will receive a six-month remuneration of 1.7 million euros and will be secured housing.The Administration Board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) is meeting today in a monetary policy session, for the first time after the recent talks between the Romanian Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a stand-by agreement.
Ziarul financiar remarks that BNR will decide to keep at 10 percent its monetary policy rate and not reduce the statutory reserves of banks.The paper notes that BNR has its most demanding meeting today, as everybody is expecting it to cut interest rates. More than 4 million Romanians and their families have got to feel the burden of risingloan interest rates.
At this meeting, the paper says, we will find the concrete effects on the BNR policy of the IMF agreement and recent talks in Vienna with foreign banks operating in Romania in relation to the interest rates on RON loans, the interventions on the forex market in favour of the local currency, the leu (RON), and the relaxation of regulations imposed on banks to get the lending restarted.
Ziarul financiar also remarks that the Romanian Government has borrowed 1.8 billion euros in two months from private bankers, reporting that the February 2009 balance of the loans taken out by the Government from banks stood at RON 24.83 billion (nearly 5.78 billion euros), that is 2.4 times more than one year before.
The paper quotes Chief Economist of Raiffeisen Bank Ionut Dumitru as saying the increase in the Government credit reflects the financing needs of the Government. Before 2007, the Government deficit was small, and so the financing needs were small as well. The needs were bigger in the first part of the year because the Finance Ministry had to refund the outstanding bills of 2008 as well.
The paper notes that the Finance Ministry got to pay interest rates of 14.25 percent per annum this January in its attempt to aggressively draw in RON resources.Cotidianul remarks that the agreement with the IMF and the EU gives strength to the local currency, the leu (RON), which continued on a rising trend immediately after the negotiations for a loan of nearly 20 million euros were announced to have been successfully completed.
Bursa carries a statement by Raiffeisen Bank Chief Economist Ionut Dumitru that there in no longer a fundamental reason for the depreciation of the RON, the exchange rates of the RON tends to stabilise, and the RON could even slightly appreciate against the single European currency.
He says the exchange rate will stay in the RON 4-4.3 to the euro bracket for the rest of the year, mentioning that the current appreciation is grounded in the optimism over the IMF agreement.
Ziua remarks that the European Investment Bank (EIB) wants to grant total loans of 1.5 billion euros to the Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is increasing its support to the Romanian economy by a 100-million-euro credit line extended to the Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), again for assisting SMEs.
Ziarul financiar carries it latest property price index indicating that the price for old three-room flats in some areas of Bucharest City went down 45-48 percent in 2008.On the average, flat prices in the city declined 34 percent and the decline was even more drastic on the outskirts. Adevarul notes that Bucharest City is ranked among the most expensive cities in the world in terms of average flat prices for the central area.
A world survey conducted by Global Property Guide (GPG) places Bucharest City at no. 26 out of 113 property markets in terms of property prices, ahead of Amsterdam, Milan, Brussels and Berlin.
Chair of the Association of Romanian Realtors (ARAI) Ruxandra Cleciu tells Romania libera that some 10 percent of the ARAI members went bankrupt over the past six months because of market difficulties.
Chair of the Association of Romanian Realtors (ARAI) Ruxandra Cleciu tells Romania libera that some 10 percent of the ARAI members went bankrupt over the past six months because of market difficulties.
Cleciu also says that because of funding shortages, the residential market is still blocked and the introduction of direct financing systems involving property developers has failed to reinvigorate housing sales.
Some of the real estate firms still in the business have rounded up their business portfolio with ancillary services, including interior decorations and cleaning.Cotidianul remarks that the March business confidence index and the index of consumers' confidence in the Romanian economy has plummeted to a historic low of 64.3 points, below the 65.7-point level reached in July 1992.
Compared with the previous month, confidence was lower among industrial, construction and services managers as well as among consumers. On the other hand, a slight improvement was recorded compared with February.
Romanian managers are expecting additional declines in the industry, commerce and services, coupled with a stagnating construction industry, reveal data of a recent trend survey released by the Romanian National Statistics Institute (INS) on Monday.
Cotidianul ironically remarks that the World Bank is recommending Romanians to work till they die, carrying a recent report by the World Bank in which the bank suggests that the Romanian Government should increase the pensionable age to 70 throughout 2050 and keep pension contributions at their current levels in order to strike a balance in the pension funds.
The paper notes that the World Bank recommendation would be impossible to apply in Romania, since the average life expectancy of Romanian males is 68, adding that perhaps the situation will change by 20250.
The study also indicates that the deficit in Romania's pension system will exceed 5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020, after which it will continue on a rising trend for the next three decades, after which time it will get down to 6.2 percent of the GDP in 2050.
The study also indicates that the deficit in Romania's pension system will exceed 5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020, after which it will continue on a rising trend for the next three decades, after which time it will get down to 6.2 percent of the GDP in 2050.
Loading ...
Comentează acest articol