Romania's national dailies of Tuesday give main coverage to President Traian Basescu's official visit to Vienna on Monday; new information about the external loan Romania intends to take out from international financial institutions and the position of Romanian authorities on the issue; new data on sales projections of premium handsets; latest data about joblessness.
Cotidianul remarks that President Traian Basescu and Governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Mugur Isarescu went to Vienna to make sure the Austrian banks are leaving their money in Romania after a tentative reduction in mandatory reserves.
Business Standard quotes President Basescu as having said on Monday in Vienna that he received assurances from Austrian business executives that the Austrian banks will keep their credit lines for their Romanian subsidiaries open in 2009. Basescu said on Monday at the end of a conversation with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer that the subsidiaries of foreign banks operating in Romania are solid despite the precarious overall economic situation. In his turn, Fischer assured that Austrian banks will keep their credit lines for Romania open.
Ziua quotes Basescu as saying an agreement from the International Monetary Fund will have a preventative character, as the banks with subsidiaries in Romania are solid and in the agreement between Romania and the IMF and the European Union there are no conditions that would call into question Romania's solvency.
Ziarul financiar quotes President Basescu as saying on Monday after a meeting with business people in Vienna that Romania has not put on a saving belt in the agreement with the EU and the IMF, but a safety belt.
'There are some elements in the agreement with the EU and the IMF that are not specific of a country in need of being saved. Romania will not have to raise its Value‑Added Tax (VAT), which will stay at 19 percent. Romania does not have to give up on its 16‑percent flat income tax. Romania does not have to cut wages. Romania does not have to cut pensions. There are no conditions alarming anyone that we are put on a saving belt,' said Basescu.
Business standard notes that the IMF is expected to agree on the loan to Romania this May and the money may come late this summer. It reports that the Romanian Government is expected to send a letter of intent to the international Monetary Fund (IMF) in two days, a document based on which it hopes to get a financial package worth 20 billion euros, with the letter expected to be analysed by the IMF board of directors in early May and the first installment likely to come toward the close of this summer.
The paper quotes First Deputy Chairman of the Democratic‑Liberal Party (PD‑L), a partner in the ruling coalition, Theodor Stolojan as saying the total amount will be 20 billion euros and it can be drawn for two years. Out of this amount, 13 billion euros will come from the IMF for the reserves of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), 5 billion euros will come from the European Union, 1 billion euro from the World Bank for investment projects, and another billion euro from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the shape of credit lines for banks. Stolojan also says the Romanian Finance Ministry will redraw the 2009 Budget after the agreement with the IMF and the EU is concluded, and the projections will read a Gross Domestic Product contraction smaller than 4 percent and a deficit smaller than 4.7 percent, both percentages initially suggested by the IMF.
Lucian Croitoru, adviser to the BNR governor, is quoted as saying the letter of intent is being drawn up by the IMF experts following their talks with Romanian officials.
Ziarul financiar notes that the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a partner in the two‑party leading coalition, is accepting the external loan, but it is still making it conditional upon certain preconditions.
The paper quotes PSD chief Mircea Geoana as having reiterated on Monday the conditions PSD will advocate at the external loan talks, most of which are social in nature. Geoana is also quoted as saying the IMF has accepted some of the PSD preconditions.
The paper remarks that what the PSD wants are protecting the purchasing power of Romanians who are drawing small wages and pensions, avoiding redundancies and providing additional resources for the Labour Ministry for active social security measures. At the same time, PSD cannot see how the projected 2‑percent Government deficit mentioned in the 2009 Budget could be sustained under the current conditions, and Geoana mentioned that the deficit percentage will be upwardly adjusted to 4 percent in order to provide guarantees that pensions and wages are not affected.
Ziarul financiar reports that the Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies on Monday approved a decision under which the members on Parliament's Committee on Industries are empowered to inquire into the agreement concluded by the Romanian Government with Sterling Resources Ltd. The Committee on Industries made a request to this end, arguing that there is a risk of Romania's interests being affected as a result of the agreement with Sterling being modified. The committee is expected to inquire into the timeliness of legislative modifications in the negotiation conditions or renegotiating a petroleum agreement in force, the way in which the Government used to control the riches of the county's soil and subsoil and public property, particularly the resources of minerals and petroleum.
The paper notes that the scandal surrounding the Sterling agreement broke out this February as Romania won in The Hague a court trial against Ukraine on the delimitation of the Black Sea continental shelf. The controversy regarded the agreement with Sterling triggered by a decision of the former Government headed by Calin Popescu‑ Tariceanu approved toward the close of his tenure that allows for the lease out of petroleum blocks in the Black Sea to the Canadian company.
Financiarul notes that the sales of premium handsets will be going up 10 percent this year in Romania, saying that the local sales of smart phones have increased over the past years as a result of increasing interest of Romanian consumers in accessing the Internet, digital data and business functions, and the sales will increase this year despite crisis, according to the main players in the field. The rise in the sales of such handsets is expected to be in the double digit, with some players venturing to say 20‑25 percent.
Cotidianul reports that joblessness in Romania is expected to affect 800,000 people in 2009, quoting Labour Minister Marian Sarbu as having said on Monday the joblessness figures might exceed 800,000 by the end of the year. Unemployment should reach 8 percent, close to the levels of 2002‑2003.
