What the newspapers say: April 6, 2008

The Romanians working abroad are sending home 10% less money than last year. At the same time, banks refuse to approve any mortgage credits and start attracting deposits. The state, of course, is in search of new income so it prepares to introduce a lump tax for all companies, in the attempt to reduce tax evasion.

The Government may collect over 350 million Euros by introducing a lump tax for all companies. The latest statistics show that over 242,000 companies declared they ended the year losing money, out of a total of 617,000 companies. According to the Finance Ministry, the total losses of the companies add up to over 5% of the GDP, some 22 billion RON. „If small enterprises would have paid their 2% income tax, the budget would have won some 1,311.5 million RON, some 0.3% of the GDP”, a Finance Ministry document reads, according to Evenimentul Zilei.

Romanians working abroad send some 10% less money home, Gandul reads. In 2008, Romania received 8.7 billion Euros from its immigrant workers, an amount roughly equal to all the foreign investments attracted in the same year. The amount in 2008 was larger than in 2007, despite expectations, yet the sums started to decrease in 2009. In January, Romanians abroad sent home 483 million Euros, compared to 536 millions in January 2008, Gandul reads.

In the banking system, the number of approved mortgage credits decreased by 69.75%, compared to February 2008 and by 68%, compared to October 2008, Cotidianul reads. Statistics show that the number of mortgages signed in February 2009 is 25% lower, even compared to January 2005, when the credits were just getting started in Romania.

In exchange, same Cotidianul reads, banks begin to make better offers for deposits, starting to attract funds for 2 or 3 years. The long-term deposit in Romania didn’t exist until recently, unlike neighboring states. The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) chief economist, Lucian Anghel, considers that the market didn’t demand such banking products until now and that the next offers will be for deposits on 1-2 years.