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Democracy Institute: Romanian economy has potential to become Balkans 'tiger'
Romania is seen by Western analysts as a better bet for the community of investments than many of its neighboring states, according to a report by the Democracy Institute in Washington, titled 'Balkan tiger or dead end in the Balkans? Current threats against the economic future of Romania'.
According to the authors of this report, the widely held view in the West is that Romanians are a poor people who live in a backward country. But in macro-economic terms, Romania has made significant progress, especially in recent years. For example, according to ' The Economist' , Romania currently has a GDP per capita of 8,070 dollars, a significant increase compared to 7,225 dollars per capita a few years ago.
Thanks to considerable progress in recent years, Romania's economic outlook is very encouraging, says in turn Grzegorz Konieczny, Vice President of Franklin Templeton. For example, government spending represents 36 percent of GDP , a healthy level compared to many European countries and emerging economies. Also, in a recent report, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that, this year, the Romanian economy will register a growth of 2.4 percent in conditions when, in the first quarter, Romania had the third largest economic growth in the EU.
In addition, in the first seven months of the year, Romania's budget deficit fell to 0.98 percent of GDP, compared to an annual target of 2.3 percent of GDP, and even more important, for the first time, Romania has registered a current account surplus. Also, Romania has an advantage over other countries in the region due to its relatively low flat tax.
The report stresses that Premier Victor Ponta will visit the U.S. in the upcoming days, to explain the comparative advantages of Romania to some of the main American companies.
According to the report , Romania faces an option between two political avenues : one leads to a tiger type economy, prosperous and based on the market, built on solid basis, the other leads to a Romania with a status and conditions of a Balkan dead end, with a corrupt leadership that is governing an impoverished population.
It also points out that Prime Minister Victor Ponta's efforts to increase transparency and to engage in a more effective fight against corruption could boost international investors' confidence in the Romanian business environment.