Mişu Negriţoiu, ING Bank: "Most likely tax adjustments are coming"

"It is hard to tell whether the measures initiated by the government are sufficient, one thing is certain, they are necessary", Mişu Negriţoiu, chairman of ING Bank, said yesterday in Iaşi. In his opnion, further adjustments of the fiscal policy are to be expected, but in his opinion, the reintroduction of the progressive taxation system is not a relevant solution: "In principle, there are no alternative solutions to those proposed by the government, it is rather a technical issue. The problem is that the members of the government have awoken pretty late, two years too late. It was becoming obvious that earnings were becoming constant, and public expenses were continually increasing, and eventually the intervention was needed to limit the deficit". According to Mr. a deficit limit should be set in the constitution, meaning governments would be required to cap public spending, allowing them lesser maneuvering room in this area.

Concerning the effect of the newly announced 16% taxation of interests on bank deposits, the chairman of ING Bank considers that this measure would lead to a decrease in the volume of deposits. "In principle it is a normal fiscal rule, because under normal circumstances all incomes are subject to tax. Earnings from interests will drop due to the application of this tax, but people will continue to keep their money in banks. Those who have money and want to invest can do so in real estate, in works of art, in gold, but some of these solutions are not available to everyone, so most of the population will keep its money in banks", Mişu Negriţoiu said.

He said that currently the dollar seems to be strengthening against the euro, but the "healthiest" suggestion would be for any investments to be split among the dollar, euro and leu. "Concerning the leu, our forecast is that it will depreciate slightly", said the chairman of ING Bank.