Press Review - January 28, 2019

01.28.2019 By Oana Gavrila

Central Bank Governor Meets with Government on Feb 4 to Discuss Bank Tax

Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu and finance minister Eugen Teodorovici will discuss the government decree introducing a tax on bank assets on February 4, within the macroprudential supervision committee.

This year's first committee meeting will focus on the effects of the surprise decree introduced in December 2018 and aspects pertaining to macroprudential supervision, economica.net reported.

This is the committee's regular meeting, despite the fact the central bank had requested an extraordinary meeting to discuss the decree. The committee has none members – three central bank representatives, three representatives of the Financial Supervision Authority, and three representatives of the government.

Central Bank Refuses to Use Reserves to Curb Leu Fall

Central bank spokesman Dan Suciu said even a single intervention of the central bank to curb the local currency's fall against the euro would cause a useless loss of forex reserves, while selling part of the reserves would drive interest rates up.

Representatives of the ruling social democrat party called on the central bank Friday to intervene to stop the leu from depreciating further, urging it to use its EUR36.8 billion forex reserves.

Suciu warned such action would not only be useless but would also drive money market interest rates up, adding the social democrats' suggestions that the central bank should sell half of the country's foreign exchange reserves is not even worth commenting.

Dragnea: Romania's GDP Grew 25% Since 2016

Social democrat party president Liviu Dragnea said Romania's gross domestic product grew 25% in 2018 compared with 2016.

"Romania ended 2018 with budget revenues of RON295.1 billion, RON71.2  billion more than in 2016, which translates into 32% growth,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Romania's GDP reached RON949.6 billion in 2018, RON188.2 billion higher than in 2016, namely a growth of 25%, he added.

Dan Barna Says USR Could Win EP Election in Alliance with PLUS

USR president Dan Barna said an alliance with Dacian Ciolos' party PLUS would secure a win in upcoming European Parliament elections for the two parties.

On its own, USR would come in second, after the ruling Social Democrat Party, Barna said, Agerpres reported.

USR and PLUS are set to announce on February 2 whether they will have joint or separate candidates for the European Parliament, Barna said Sunday.