Top bankers in Romania discuss the country's economic crisis in terms of an international snowballing effect, one newspaper reads on Monday. Also in the news today, Romania's Conservative Party elected the first woman for party leadership, Daniela Popa. Last but not least, European Commission officials criticize Romania's justice system for locking up high corruption cases.
Cotidianul quotes several important bankers in Romania discussing about the country's economic crisis and its future prospects. Romanian Commercial Bank CEO Manfred Wimmer argues that Romania's economic growth indexes are continuing to increase for 2008 but foreign financing costs will increase as well.
He says Romania goes through a snowballing effect just as other regional countries due to the international market troubles. However, Wimmer is confident that Romania will slowly recover by summer time.
BRD-SocGen head Patrick Gelin says that local macroeconomics determine in general terms the economy's reaction to the international environment. The crisis and its deepening depends solely on the American market since it has direct consequences upon European economies.
UniCredit Tiriac President Dan Pascariu however does not agree with Gelin and argues that the international market cannot have a direct effect upon Romania since no major European bank in the country has been significantly affected by the crisis. Moreover, he says that the subprime crisis in the US is over and a recovery depends on the market and its upcoming reaction.
Gandul reads about the first woman elected as president of the small but so far influential Conservative Party (PC) in Romania. However, the new breakthrough was shadowed by hundreds of party delegates who were very nervous and refused the accept the final results that had the politician they supported, Florin