Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Tuesday that the solutions to help industrial companies overcome the economic crisis are the expansion of domestic market and the banks' resuming lending for production.

"The state will try to stimulate banks to grant production loans if the market requires it," Basescu was quoted by the official Agerpres news agency as saying in Targoviste, some 80 km northwest of capital Bucharest.

On a working visit to steel mill Mechel Targoviste, the president said lack of funds for production becomes the most difficult problem Mechel is facing now, since the banks are extremely cautious in granting loans.

"Mechel now needs loans to revive production. We must convince banks to resume lending to enterprises. The state will try to encourage banks to give more loans," Basescu said.

Basescu discussed with the employers and trade union leaders the plant's situation at this time of crisis.

Mechel Targoviste, one of the three steel mills Mechel bought in Romania, is hard hit in this moment by the economic crisis, just like other industrial companies in the country. Some 400 Mechel employees are currently in technical unemployment.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)