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ABSTRACT: When we refer to countertrade transactions, we talk, in fact, about the possibility to trade worldwide otherwise than by using the monetary element as trading tool. Countertrade transactions eliminate the shortcomings of currency deficiencies, regardless of the cause element. The main objective, worldwide, is to support and increase the efficiency of export and especially that of those countries overproduction is very common. This activity has a number of advantages and disadvantages, which have grown continuously, with an increasing coverage area, being expressed in various forms, supported, in their turn, by a variety of bodies. The problems approached in this article focus on these aspects, as well as on the connections between them and aim, among others, to review the forms of these trade operations and to highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
KEY WORDS: countertrade, transactions, offset, parallel transactions, buy-back.
JEL CLASSIFICATIONS: F13, L14, M52, P33.
1.INTRODUCTION
The trading activity as a whole has been carried out since ancient times. Initially, various commodities were traded which represented, at that time, the reference directions in the life of the trading communities: silk, spices, fabrics, animals, etc. Later, due to the development of the communities, the trading activity acquired new valences. Thus, commercial transactions have now reached the point where they allow for the exchange of food products, equipment (from the most different categories and with the most various uses), precious metals, electronics, etc.
Countertrade transactions are a form of international business. They are viewed as an economic response to the imperfections of the markets, and companies should acquire or develop the tools and resources required to avoid traps and overcome the involved disadvantages.
Countertrade is not a new phenomenon in the international trade, on the contrary, it developed shortly after the Second World War on the background of the lack of available capital in a Europe torn by the war.
Countertrade transactions consist of "linking the sale to the purchase, the import to the export, with the purpose of ensuring well-balanced commercial exchanges between the respective partners, implying the elimination or reduction of currency as means of payment, and replacing it with mutual exchanges of goods and services" (Vişan, 2009, page 237).
2.STAGE OF KNOWLEDGE
The specialised literature deems that countertrade transactions are not a...