ECB President in Bucharest


Jean Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), will arrive to Bucharest on September 4, HotNews.ro informs. He will attend manifestations which mark 130 years since the founding of the National Bank of Romania (BNR). Trichet will remain only 24 hours in Romania, as he is due back in Frankfurt on the following morning. According to organisers, the conference proceedings will be held in English, but will not be broadcast live.


Notaries forced to reduce property transaction fee by 10 pc


The Bucharest Chamber of Notaries Public is cutting real estate transaction fees by 10 per cent in Bucharest and in a few other counties, the measure being applicable as of today, in the context of the negative trend of the property market in the first seven months of the year. The counties that will benefit from reduced fees are Calarasi, Giurgiu, Ialomita, Ilfov and Teleorman, Mediafax informs. This year’s grid used by notaries to calculate minimum fees and taxes on apartment transactions in Bucharest was set at 30-40 per cent smaller values, the adjustment being called for by the decline of the property market in 2009.


State plans to borrow over EUR 1 bln this month


The state intends to sell state bonds and treasury bills worth a total of RON 4.6 bln (EUR 1.09 bln), the same as the figure announced for August, ‘Gandul’ daily informs. However, because of the interest rates of more than 7 per cent the banks charge, the Ministry of Finance has refused several credit offers, limiting the loans to ‘just’ RON 3 bln (over EUR 700 M). The state may soon have to reconsider this strategy and accept paying bigger interest if it wants to finance itself in the context of growing inflation, economic analysts say. In the next there years, the Finance Ministry intends to borrow money on the foreign markets within a medium-term financing agreement worth EUR 7 bln. Erste Bank and Societe Generale have been recently selected to arrange the issues in the framework of the financing programme.


Instead of firing, government is hiring


The Executive has announced mass layoffs ever since the first Boc Government took office, but mostly after last year’s elections, with the main purpose being wage expenditure cuts, ‘Financiarul’ newspaper informs. The seven-month budget execution shows that, instead of decreasing – as claimed by the authorities – payroll expenditures actually grew compared to the first seven months of 2009, by RON 300 M, to RON 9.1 bln. The 3.5 per cent expenditure rise is motivated by the fact that the government dismisses existing staff while hiring new staff. The websites of ministries, agencies or other state institutions contain dozens of job openings. The competitions that are being organised these days for the selection of employees who want to keep their jobs are not included there, the announcements referring to new jobs. The situation is also confirmed by the latest data from the National Statistical Institute, showing that a majority of vacancies are in the following fields: health and social work, public administration and defence, agriculture, forestry and fisheries.


Cogealac wind farm project put on hold


Czech group CEZ that is developing EUR 1.1 bn worth of wind farms in Dobrogea claims its project has been stopped “without solid legal arguments” because of existing differences between the Constanta Territorial Construction Inspectorate (ITCC) and the Constanta County Council, Mediafax informs. CEZ says its has followed all the authorisation stages under Romanian law and that it is in possession of all the permits needed for building the wind farm at Fantanele and Cogealac, a project it acquired over two years ago.


Alpha Bank profit in Romania up 13.2 pc


The operating profit Alpha Bank obtained in Romania went up by 13.2 per cent in H1 compared to the similar period of 2009, to EUR 116.1 M and the bank reported a EUR 47 M reduction of the value of some of its credit assets, according to Mediafax. In Romania’s case, the reduction of the value of specific credit assets is 140.9 per cent higher than the one registered in the first half of last year, an Alpha Bank H1 performance reports states. The credit portfolio of the Romania’s based unit went up by 2.8 per cent compared to H1 of 2009, to EUR 4.147 bn. In H1 2010, in Romania, Alpha Bank had a market share in terms of credit activities of 8.5 per cent, compared to 8.9 per cent at the end of last year, 187 branches compared to 200 at the end of 2009 and 2,515 employees compared to 2,562 last year.


Reiffeisen Romania profit up 40 pc


Austrian group Raiffeisen International in H1 2010 posted after-tax profit of EUR 52 M, up 40.5 per cent compared to the result reported in the same period last year, Mediafax informs. The growing financial performance was possible primarily thanks to the major cut of provisions. Provisions constituted by the bank for possible deterioration of assets of Romania decreased from EUR 62 M to EUR 33 M, and after-tax profit went up from EUR 37 M to EUR 52 M in H1, six per cent down from the EUR 235 M reported for the same period last year. The net earnings from interest went up from EUR 112 M to EUR 120 M, and those from commissions from EUR 96 M to EUR 98 M.