Financial Press Review, 2 March

The Curierul Naţional published an article entitled ‘NAFA controls fat wallets’, presenting the draft bill through which the government is trying to verify people who have high incomes or valuable assets.

‘NAFA begins pursuing wealth’, the Ziarul Financiar wrote as well. ‘Charging begins with a difference of 50 000 lei between real incomes of the stated ones.’

It involves the control of great assets and income only from the tax evasion perspective, related to the licit or illicit way of their acquisition which is to be solved by the courts.

The consultants consider that the NAFA will practically grant an indirect amnesty for the mere fact that will be difficult to prove the illicit nature of the revenues obtained 10 years ago’, the Ziarul Financiar revealed.

‘Will rescheduling debts work?’, the Curierul Naţional wondered on the front page about a draft emergency ordinance on the subject prepared by the Executive.

‘The government will reschedule the taxpayers’ debts to five years, requiring high guarantees and interests of 14.6 percent year’, the reason for which ‘entrepreneurs are somewhat skeptical about the practical implementation of the measure’, the newspaper wrote.

‘The state is not a usurer to demand such guarantees, either they help us without nothing in return, either they leave us alone’, the Curierul Naţional quoted the president of the National Council of Small and Medium Sized Private Enterprises in Romania, Ovidiu Nicolescu.

The Ziarul Financiar published an article claiming that ‘in the current world in which the prices of agricultural product have registered the most spectacular increase in the last 50 years, Romania’s only chance is to begin cultivating the 3.5 million hectares of arable land, meaning 40 percent of the total, which are unplowed and full of weeds.

The farmers cited by the newspaper believed that one solution would be ‘merging land.’

‘Poultry Farms - endangered because cereal prices’ is the title of an article edited by Emilia Olescu in the Bursa, from which readers learn that ‘many poultry farms continue to reduce their production or close due to the alarming increase in the grain prices and lack of funds to buy feed’, according to Ilie Van, president of the Union of Poultry Breeders in Romania. (...) The UPBR President believes that in short time, the domestic production will be replaced by the similar imported products with the well-known VAT evasion.

The Bursa published an article covering the analysis of the autumn Eurobarometre survey presented yesterday by the European Commission Representation in Bucharest. ‘

A proportion of 94 percent of Romanians believe that the domestic economic situation is ‘quite bad or very bad.’

‘Only 14 percent of the fellow citizens believe that the Government has acted effectively to the crisis and only 4 percent of them’, the Ziarul Financiar pointed out.

The daily also found out that ‘Romanians believe in a greater proportion (29 percent) than other Europeans that the national government is the one who must take anti-crisis measures.

‘The autumn Eurobarometre showed that ‘50 percent of Romanian considers inflation as the most important problem of the daily life, compared to the 43 percent of last spring’s report.’

‘The main inflationary outbreak is the real economy that still has not repaired the necessary pumps to attract the existing money into business and investment. It is a sign that our economy is still inefficient. And an inefficient economy is producing inflation.’

‘And financial instability’ ,according to Adrian Vasilescu in an article in the Ziarul Financiar entitled ‘Where and how could shock wave hit oil price rises.’

The Bursa continues to cover the situation in the customs in an article entitled ‘Fast as lighting resignation in Customs Bucharest leadership.’ Bucharest customs chief Sorin Văduva resigned yesterday, just a few days after being appointed by the NAFA President, Sorin Blejnar.

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