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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 18-24/08/2008 |
| (2008-08-22) |
| Last updated: 2008-08-25 16:02 EET |
1.President Traian Basescu has made a tour of 5 Black Sea countries
2. Romania’s GDP for the first quarter of 2008 has risen
3. Payments under the SAPARD programme for 2008 might be resumed
In an attempt to identify solutions for security in the Black Sea area, given the latest developments in Georgia and the impact they might have on other “frozen conflict” areas, Romania’s President Traian Basescu made a quick tour of 5 states in the Black Sea area: Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. During the talks with his counterparts from the 5 states, Traian Basescu reiterated Bucharest’s stand according to which maintaining the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the countries that face such conflicts is a fundamental instance of international law observance. President Basescu underscored that the events in Georgia should come to an end as soon as possible and that Russian and Georgian troops should return to the positions held before the conflict sparked off; he added that the cease-fire agreement should be fully complied with. Also the Romanian head of state believes that responsibility for security in the Black Sea area lies with all the states in the region. The events in Georgia prompted an emergency meeting in Brussels of the NATO foreign ministers who, this week, have summoned Russia to comply with its pledges. Moscow should end its operations in Georgia and withdraw to the positions held before the start of the conflict – said NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The NATO foreign ministers reiterated their support for Georgia’s aspirations to join NATO.
The National Bank of Romania decided to tighten rules for loan granting conditions by banks and approved new regulations meant to limit the amount of credits and implicitly contain the trade deficit. The National Bank of Romania took these measures after having raised the key interest rate for 7 consecutive times in one single year. The bank’s move had no echo with Romanians, whose appetite for loans and credits could not be checked by higher costs. The new norms stipulate that individuals will only be able to take out credits based on their income declared for tax purposes to which 20% is added. The debt rate will stay unchanged until maturity depending on the customer’s income reported at the moment of contracting the loan.
In Romania, the GDP registered an 8.6% increase in the first quarter of the year against the backdrop of an economic growth of 8.9% in the second quarter, both percentages representing a record value for the past 20 years-it was announced by the Romanian minister of economy and finance, Varujan Vosganian. He added that the budget deficit for the first 7 months of 2008 stood at 0.64% of the GDP while in August inflation will register a downturn. Also direct foreign investments in Romania augmented by 35% in the first quarter of 2008 as compared to the same period of last year. Minister Vosganian says the level of investments might reach 10 billion euro by the end of the year.
“Romania is experiencing a spectacular evolution which is due to the positive developments in industry, agriculture and constructions. Domestic demand also saw a positive evolution.”
Romanian minister of agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, has provided assurances that by the end of August, the line ministry and the Paying Agency for Rural Development, will remedy the shortcoming notified by the European Commission, in order for the payments under the SAPARD programme to be resumed. On July 9th, Brussels officials sent a letter to the Romanian authorities, announcing the temporary freezing of payments under the SAPARD programme for 2008, worth some 200 million euro. The measure was due to shortcomings identified in the management and control mechanism. Brussels asked for a plan to be drafted which should remedy the abovementioned flaws by the end of August; minister Ciolos announced measures have already been taken to allow payment resumption in financial security conditions.
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2025-04-03
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