What the newspapers say: July 27, 2010 

Romania might pay pensions and salaries delayed or rationalized, one newspaper reads on Tuesday. Also in business, PM Boc announces an over-taxation of the rich. Last but not least, Romanians hid 200 tons of gold, the treasure of the Central Bank between 1944 to 1947 in a cave in the Valcan mountains. The operation was meant to protect the national wealth from Russian troops ready to invade the country.

Gandul reads that the IMF found the Romanian government facing a serious problem: the government’s high debts to the private environment which the government needs to reduce to get the sixth instalment worth 900 million euro.

IMF chief of mission in Romania, Jeffrey Franks announced that the IMF will consider for 2010 a deeper recession of 0.5% of GDP but up to 3%. Official sources declared that because the state has problems getting loans from abroad, and internally the relation with banks is not very good, the state might not have money to pay pensions and salaries in time.

If the state remains without money, the state will have to rationalize spending and this could mean cancelling investments and delayed payments of salaries and pensions. The IMF mission started off on a pessimistic tone.

The main challenge for the IMF is to support Romania to exit the recession. Franks declared that despite the obvious deficiencies, there was considerable progress. Experts declare that Romania sent mixed signals to the IMF: the VAT increase even though an unfortunate policy for Romania revealed a determination to maintain the deficit under control.

However, it is the problem is that the government thinks will push the deficit related problems to the end of the year. One of the biggest problems the government faces right now is the high debts it has to the private environment.

Even though according to the agreement their level should have dropped to 480 million lei by the end of the year from 1.5 billion lei in December 2009, they continued to increase.

Also in business, PM Boc announced another anti-crisis measure, after the VAT increase, the cut of budgetary salaries and the failed pensions decrease. The chief of executive plans to over-tax the rich with a percent of their wealth.

Boc said that a project on this issue is currently set up at the Finance ministry and that this would offer the budget significant revenues. There are many rich people who do not pay taxes for their whole wealth and this project will cover this gap.

Last but not least, Romania libera reads that the Romanian Central Bank treasure, 200 tons of gold, were hidden between 1944-1947 in a cave in the Valcan Mountains to protect the treasure from the Russian troops.

The population found out about the operation accidentaly, when one of the cars transporting the treasure had an accident on the road and the gold spilled on the roads. Authorities decided to hide the gold in the country after Switzerland and Turkey refused to accept it.

Of the 200 tons of gold, the country’s reserves dropped by 45 tons in 1955. In 1968 the reserve increases to 106 tons of gold and in 1985 the reserve recheas to 118 tons. However, the 1989 revolution finds only 67 tons of gold. Today, our country’s reserve has almost 104 tons of gold.

Central Bank government Mugur Isarescu declared that the central bank will open a museum in the cave, to remind people of the secret operation in the country’s recent history.