Romania’s capital flows reach EUR 40 bln, says Romanian President

Romanian President Traian Basescu recently said that Romania has capital flows of EUR 40 billion, of which EUR 13.2 billion were used in 2011 for financing the state budget. The rest of the amount was directed to the private sector, according to the President, quoted by Mediafax newswire. Traian Basescu added that, following the European Council’s decision, the foreign banks that operate on the Romanian market aren’t allowed to reduce the capital flows below this year’s level. He noted that, through the decision adopted by the Council, not only Romania, but all the countries have the guarantee that the banks owned by mother-banks in other countries will also have the capital level maintained for the next years. The Romanian President said this week that he agrees with banks’ capitalization, but that they should keep the level of exposure on Romania for at least two more years. “I didn’t question the approved amount of EUR 100 billion for capitalization”, he said. He added that he questioned whether the amounts used for banks’ capitalization cover “our need for their subsidiaries in Romania to keep the level of exposure for this year and the next one”. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Romanian Presidency)