18 apr 2012

Romania wants a new safety net from the World Bank – a EUR1 billion line of credit that would allow the Finance Ministry to cover financing needs if turmoil intensifies on the financial markets. more

17 apr 2012

International Finance Corporation, the investment division of the World Bank, has shown its willingness to help banks process non-performing loans and invested in funds that restructure such loans, more

11 apr 2012

After years in which the authorities and politicians have just talked about taxing agriculture, the Finance Ministry readily admits “agriculture is less taxed than the rest of economic sectors,” more

4 apr 2012

Bank profitability is expected to remain low in the short term in Romania, as the favorable impact on the banking system of the return to economic growth will come with a lag. But profits will pick up more

3 apr 2012

The first quarter came with mixed signals about the rebound of the economy. The macroeconomic picture is quite negative, according to the data announced so far, and certain events show the local more

2 apr 2012

Achieving the deficit target of 1.9%-2.1% of the gross domestic product in 2012 will entail a freeze in public sector wages and pensions and will not leave room for cuts in VAT or social security more

29 mar 2012

Back when the previous stand-by arrangement was in place, IMF experts proposed the creation of a bad bank, which would manage ailing assets in the form of non-performing loans in the banking system. more

27 mar 2012

Romania’s budget was fully affected by the bad weather in February, moving from a surplus of 0.2% of GDP in January to a deficit of 0.4% of GDP in February. more

26 mar 2012

Almost 30,000 Romanians and 240,000 companies had their accounts frozen by fiscal authorities after they failed to pay their taxes. more

23 mar 2012

The revision of the economic growth forecast to 1.7% is the first official acknowledgement that the gross domestic product this year will be lower than the expectations in 2011, around which the more

21 mar 2012

The leu's depreciation towards 4.4 against the euro could support the strategy recently adopted by Romania's central bank to encourage lending in lei, and could amount to a breath of fresh air for more

19 mar 2012

Romania’s exposure to foreign currency loans, the country’s biggest vulnerability, has increased instead of falling in the three years since the start of the international financial crisis. more

13 mar 2012

Exports rose in January by just 1.4% in euro terms compared with the same month a year ago, affected by the demand decline in the euro zone, the main market for Romanian products, as well as by more

12 mar 2012

Bogdan Dragoi, who was appointed finance minister a month ago, collected 833,640 lei (almost EUR200,000) from the various positions held in 2011. Half of the money (about EUR105,000) was his pay as a more

8 mar 2012

The Romanian central bank, or BNR, admitted half-heartedly at the beginning of this week, through the voice of the central bank’s deputy governor Cristian Popa, that it had not expected the extent more

5 mar 2012

Romania’s banking system might see red in 2012 as well, for the third consecutive year, and players with considerable losses will most likely need additional capital, according to Florin Ilie, head more

2 mar 2012

The worsening of the euro zone debt crisis and the increased risk aversion to the region led foreign investors to sell around EUR3 billion in Romanian bonds in the second half of last year, but more

29 feb 2012

Austria's government invests a further EUR250 million in Volksbank’s capital after taking a 70% loss from a previous EUR1 billion injection, this being the third time since 2008 that the Austrian more

28 feb 2012

The growth rate of revenues from the value added tax slowed down in January to 15%, half of the growth recorded in the same month of 2011. The slowdown of revenues collected came as the base effect of more

27 feb 2012

Romanian central bank BNR has eased the minimum reserve requirements for banks, a measure that could release liquidity into the market, especially foreign-currency. more

23 feb 2012

Longer maturities on government bonds, a clear bond issuing calendar for the whole year, as well as sticking to the amounts in the issuing prospectus are the main recommendations of analysts for the more

22 feb 2012

The European bank deleveraging in Romania and the escalation of the sovereign debt crisis are the external risks Romania will continue to face, warn the analysts of Deutsche Bank, the largest German more

20 feb 2012

The new Government has not so far issued opinions on the performance of the economy or on concrete measures to support the economy, after the negative signals of the past few months. The more

20 feb 2012

Bank external debt at the end of 2011 was at a level comparable to that at the end of 2010. Long-term debt decreased by around EUR300 million, but short-term debt climbed significantly. This indicates more

16 feb 2012

The good news of Romania’s 2.5% gross domestic product growth last year is clouded by the prospects of a new recession, as a GDP decline is expected for the first quarter of 2012. more