20 Mai 2009

Boc warns to overtax lenders profits



The Government may seek to overtax profit if commercial banks refuse to meet the arrangement agreed with Romanian administration and withdraw their credit lines, said the Prime Minister Emil Boc.
“If foreign banks, through their subsidiaries in Romania refused to understand how profitable their operations in Romania were and now, in recessionary times, they seek to place the burden on Romanians and withdraw cash from foreign banks, then we would have the possibility to overtax profits”, said Boc at the public radio station.

For the moment, there are no signs to herald a massive cash withdrawal as a result of RRR-cutting measure.

As of June -July, Boc said he hoped the lending market to break the ice and start running, considering that new NBR regulations will be effective as of May 24 which are expected to revive lending. The PM said the Government could bring back the small-business lending issue on the Wednesday’s session agenda.

“Gone are the heydays when you would get loans on the spot only with the ID”, Boc said, adding that the lending will be resumed firstly for SMEs, investments in construction and agriculture.

However, financing lines from parent banks from Austria and Greece in Romania were cut by 2.293 billion euros in September 2008 – March 2009 while Romanian subsidiaries’ capitals were chopped by 472 million euros, as NBR data showed.



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