What the newspapers say: May 25, 2009

Moldovan incumbent President Vladimir Voronin wants to see the Romanian politicians punished by the European Union for their hypothetical involvement in the social unrest from last month in Chisinau, the Romanian press informs. Further in the news, Romania’s Central Bank has asked the foreign banks to increase their capital for their Romanian subsidiaries. Last but not least, Romanian tennis player Alexandra Dulgheru has won the WTA championship in Warsaw.

The Romanian press quotes Moldovan incumbent president Vladimir Voronin asking the European Union to takes measures against Romania’s current president Traian Basescu. Voronin goes further to ask the EU to punish Romanian politicians that were supposedly involved in the social unrests from last month in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, according to Cotidianul. The newspaper quotes an interview Voronin gave to Russian press agency RIA Novosti last week, when he was raising the issue of Romanian authorities being punished by the EU, while reasserting the good relations between Moldova and the European Union. There were 25% less Romanians transiting the Moldovan borders since Moldova introduced visas for Romanians, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

Romania Libera reads the Romanian Central Bank (BNR) has asked foreign mother-banks to increase their capitals for the Romanian subsidiaries, according to Romanian press agency NewsIn. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) requested a stress test for the banks activating in Romania. The IMF and BNR had a meeting in this sense during late March in Wien with the representatives of the main 12 foreign banks from the Romanian market, among which Erste Bank, Raiffeisen International, Eurobank EFG, National Bank of Greece, Unicredit, Societe Generale, Alpha Bank, Volksbank and Piraeus Bank.

The IMF stress tests showed that the banks need to adjust their Romanian capital with a total of 4.15 billion lei for 2009 and 2010, Romania Libera informs. The solvability rate must record over 10% and the banks’ capital must be readjusted to suit this demand. The main scenario is based on a 4% contraction of the Romanian economy for 2009. As far as the exchange rate is concerned, the tests presume a 20% depreciation of the leu (the national currency) in 2009, and extra 5-6 percentage points depreciation in 2010. The mother-banks need to provide the increase in their Romanian subsidiaries capital for the present year by the end of September. Some of the banks have already started to increase their capital by using the current profits.

Romanian tennis player Alexandra Dulgheru is the WTA championship winner from Warsaw, Gandul informs. She has become the world’s 83rd played thanks to her victory on Sunday. This propelled her118 positions in the global top. Alexandra Dulgheru came back to international competitions after a long period of accidents. The 20 year-old player competed for the first time in an WTA Premier tournament. The only Romanian to have won the WTA championship is Irina Spîrlea.