Financial Press Review, January 4

Under the headline "What fiscal and budget policy measures should be applied in Romania in 2011," the Ziarul Financiar reads that the state should be encouraging investment that generate added value.

Moreover, spending on goods and services should be lower and, also, cost-efficient compared to the real cost of acquisition.

Over time, investment or goods and services expenditures have been a source for draining public funds, and this must be stopped. (…)

The money that some state institutions would have saved by making acquisitions at real costs (and not pumped up ones) could have entirely covered the sum that the state wants to save by diminishing the parental allowance."

By diminishing arrears, as promised, the state would unlock some of the economic agents' activity, the daily reads. The Bursa also covers the subject.

By not paying off its arrears, "the state is disrupting the economy, rather than stimulating it," the daily quotes Raiffeisen Bank VP, Marinel Burduja.

He also points out that "for the Romanian administrations, the absorption of the European funds has been nothing but a slogan."

This is the reason why our country "is a net contributor to the EU budget year after year."

The Ziarul Financiar dedicates an article to "the legislating and overlegislating fever".

"With an average of 25-30 normative acts issued a day, Romania has become a Heaven for lawyers and financial consultants."

"Who knows or even applies the tens of normative acts that spring up every day?" the daily asks, pointing out that, every year, in France there are four times less normative acts.

Moreover, if a law or ordinance is amended, why not abolish entirely the old law, and include the older, valid dispositions in the new law?", the daily also wonders.

Under the headline "Transporters, on edge about the rise in fuel price," the Curierul Naţional reads that "with the last rise, the gas price has spiked to over 5 lei a litre, almost the same as in Austria."

In the Bursa we read that "transporters plead the government to reconsider fuel taxes (…) in order to avoid fluctuation on the market, which would seriously affect the economy."

The Ziarul Financiar considers that "the advance rate of gas price should also consider the depreciation of the dollar."

The Curierul Naţional opens today's issue with an article entitled "How far are we from adhering to euro?"

"The Romanian authorities announced that the official target for 2015 is adopting the EU currency.

However, analysts believe the target is much too ambitious, claiming that Romania won't adhere earlier than 2020.

The economists point out that, if we adhere before we are ready, the negative effects will be significant.

The Ziarul Financiar draws the conclusion that "the Romanian officials" speech about the euro differs from that of politicians in Prague or Warsaw."

Translated by: Gabriela Lungu and Raluca Mizdrea
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University