International crisis could delay Romania's euro-zone accession

Romania's National Bank (BNR) Governor Mugur Isarescu said the current international financial crisis could prevent Romania from joining the euro zone in 2014, as scheduled. "It is too early to see all the financial crisis' details and their impact on Romania by 2014. The crisis' potential is pretty high and some of the elements that make up the worldwide system could change by then," said Isarescu.

He added the reason why Romania will not be affected by the crisis is the fact Romanian banks avoided "toxic" loans and the central bank's lending regulations were more severe compared to the U.S. ones. Isarescu added the Romanian market, which is expanding, provides earnings opportunities from classic products.

Business Standard