What the newspapers say: August 06, 2008

Miercuri, 6 august 2008, 9:15 English | Press Review

Even during the holidays, news about money continues to dominate in Romanian newspapers. On Wednesday, we find out that Romanians owe a lot to the banks, but don't hurry to pay back their credits. The debt towards banks is growing fast, although the wages increased. Meanwhile, the shopping spree seems to have become a national sport.

The news in business is that four companies submitted offers in the bid for a new mobile telecomm license. Out of four companies that bought the documentation for the bid, NetPoint, Romtelecom, Saudi Oger and Tactical Networks AS were the only to submit an offer, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

Still, the news of the day refers to income and debt. Gandul reads that Romanians are behind in their payments towards bans, the total debt reaching 1.7 billion RON (470 million euro).The sum is 134% larger than last year, but still is a small bit of the 35 billion RON Romanians borrowed from banks. The same Gandul notes that the average income in Romania increased 25% during the past year, with peaks in the financial interim businesses and lows in wood processing jobs.

Cotidianul explains why the debt is growing, although the salaries also increased: Romanians love their shopping trips. While the retail businesses fell 7.7% in Spain and 1% in the European average, Romania saw a 4.1% growth month over month and a 23.3% growth compared to the same period in 2007.

Finally, it seems that the only Romanians working enough and doing less shopping are those working in Western Europe. Romania Libera quotes a Der Spiegel article, noting that "the Polish plumber returns home, the Romanian construction worker remains abroad". Maybe because the wages in Poland are now at an almost European level, while worker in Romania still earn far less than required for a decent living.