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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 04-10/01/2010 |
| (2010-01-08) |
| Last updated: 2010-01-11 14:12 EET |
2010 started in Romania with the already traditional price hikes, triggered, among others, by the increase in excises and in the national currency exchange rate. Romanians will pay more for fuel, electricity, car insurance and cigarettes. As regards food, this increase in excises and the removal of subsidies in agriculture will lead to 30% higher prices for meat, cold cuts and dairy products. The new year also started with a 20% increase in taxes and fees. There is good news, though for those interested in luxury products: yachts, perfumes and fur coasts are cheaper starting January.
The most part of the specialized parliament committees have endorsed the 2010 draft state budget and social insurance law. The legislative assembly will start debating the two draft laws on January 11th, which must be passed urgently, before the meeting of the IMF board, for Romania to get the next installment of the loan. Some ministers have said they are satisfied with the money their ministries got, other are not, but are willing to accept that they are crisis budgets whose main goal is to keep these institutions working. Still, several amendments approved by the labour and social protection parliament committees regarding the increase in the pension reference value by 100 lei and a 10% drop in the contribution to the social insurance fund, have upset the Finance Minister. He has threatened to resign if these amendments are approved by Parliament. According to the media though, ministry employees will be doing just fine even in these times of crisis, because for some of them bonuses will be up to 3 times higher this year.
Romanian trade unions and employers’ associations have started negotiations with the new Labour Minister Mihai Seitan, on the conclusion of a social pact for 2010, which is very likely to be a harsh year, especially for state employees. Their salaries have been frozen, and part of the bonuses will be removed, and the number of the unemployed will go up. Authorities have decided that starting September 1st, the number of jobs in education will decrease by 15 thousand. The parties are discussing a potential modification of the quotients included in the single payment scheme for state employees and a single minimum salary for all employees, be they working in the private or in the public sector. The single payment system scheme, whose aim is to do away with discrepancies in the public system, came into force on January 1st, but it can still be amended by June 30th.
The National Bank of Romania decided on Tuesday to reduce the interest rate for monetary policy by 0.5% to reach 7.5%, accounting for the minimum level of the last two years. Theoretically, by reducing the monetary policy interest rate, banks with private capital can borrow money from the National Bank under convenient terms and reduce interest rates for loans. It is believed, however, that the high interest rates on the inter-banking market will be maintained. Responsible for this situation is the Romanian state itself which has borrowed extensively from banks to pay pensions and the salaries of state employees. This week, the national currency has appreciated significantly against the Euro and the American dollar, reaching the level recorded in June 2009. Analysts believe, however, that this appreciation will not last very long, and that the Romanian leu will start depreciating again in the coming period.
Almost 80 people have died in Romania and more than 6,000 have been infected with the A H1N1 virus in Romania. The national vaccination campaign that started last month continues, but, according to health authorities, it has not had the expected results because of the insufficient lack of information available to the population. Romania is facing a second pandemic wave, whose climax is expected in January. The World Health Organisation said the AH1N1 flu, which has caused over 12,000 deaths across the world, will remain a challenge in 2010 as well.
The economic crisis has strongly hit the media market in Romania, especially the written press. The drop in the number of copies sold and returns from advertising have led to the closing down of several local and central publications. After Cotidianul and Business Standard, two other newspapers, Ziua and Gardianul, have announced this week that they will no longer be issued in printed format, as a result of their big financial debts. The two newspapers will appear exclusively on line.
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