Financial Press Review, 10 March

All financial newspapers published on their front page the photo of the NBR governor speaking at yesterday’s Business Forum of Romania and the Gulf countries. ‘Isărescu became optimistic: ‘A new cycle of growth starts’, the Ziarul Financiar headlined. ‘Isărescu: Investment opportunities beyond imagination’, is the headline in the Bursa. NBR governor told foreign investors that ‘is not the money the country needs, but entrepreneurs, viable projects and people able to carry them out’, the Ziarul Financiar wrote. And continued: ‘Despite the optimism expressed at the political level, the business environment is still prudent to say with certainty that the economy is still recovering.’

‘Timid signs of economic recovery emerge. Trade and construction move slowly’, is called a comprehensive analysis of the same newspaper. ‘How can construction market rebound?’ is the headline of the article with which the Curierul Naţional opens today’s issue. ‘In the last two years of crisis, the construction sector in Romania registered a 37 percent shrinkage’, noted the newspaper. ‘The year 2011 began with the wrong foot in terms of public investment, the vast majority of auctions being conducted. Representatives of the Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs believe that, starting from the specifications and ending with the evaluation criteria, the eligibility cannot possible suit the Romanian companies’,wrote the Bursa..’The ARACO board opined that there are no premises for the construction sector to overcome the crisis in 2011.’ ‘Real estate financing is back: 70 million euros in three transactions’, the Ziarul Financiar headlined.

The three transactions which brought together the banks and the real estate investors ‘may represent a new signal for the real estate debacle, while ‘ bank financing for the development or acquisition of the real estate projects have been a species that seemed in danger of extinction over the past two years’, the newspaper said. The Ziarul Financiar wondered: ‘Why there were only 1,000 cases sent to court for tax evasion in 2010, as the evasion is 30 percent of the GDP, meaning 40 billion euros.’Valeriu Tabără said that in agriculture alone the evasion reached one billion euros in 2010, but the market players claim that it is seven to eight times higher’, the newspaper wrote.

‘Illegal trade in alcoholic beverages - nearly 60 percent of the market, headlined the daily Bursa. Out of approximately 30,000 municipal boiler liquor and spirits, less than 1 percent are approved, the newspaper revealed pointing out that: ‘The smuggling of alcoholic beverages is not as great as the proportion of cigarettes, but it exists.’ The Curierul Naţional dedicated an article on how the Germans feel about the Romanian seaside.

‘High prices, lacking facilities and services, illegally constructed buildings and beaches that have to be cleaned.’ ‘The dissatisfaction with the beach in Romania was expressed by the German group TUI at the Berlin Tourism Fair, where Romania came to promote the main tourist destinations in our country’, wrote the newspaper. According to the Director of TUI, the biggest issue is the mentality of Romanian hotel owners. ‘The greatest winner from events in Egypt will be Spain by attracting a large number of tourists’, according to the German representative quoted by the Curierul Naţional.

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