Mihai Tanasescu on RFI: Romania is a very solid country in macro-economic terms, with a stabilized economy
Romania is a very solid country in macro-economic terms, and the most important is that the Romanian economy is stabilized, this being the third consecutive year of economic growth, said Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Mihai Tanasescu, in an interview with radio France International (RFI), on Tuesday.
Christine Lagarde's visit is the latest in a series of visits by heads of international financial institutions, who in recent months came to Romania. In March, the EIB President came to Bucharest, followed by the World Bank President, the EBRD President, and now Christine Lagarde visits Romania and I think the messages that were sent during this coordinated endeavor of the international financial institutions is a very positive one for Romania, Tanasescu highlighted.
According to Vice-President of the EIB, who said he is one of the supporters of the continuation of a partnership with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, Romania currently has the capacity to ensure financial resources both on the domestic and foreign markets.
'Partnership means a sequel, if you will, of fiscal consolidation, an acceleration of structural reforms and, last but not least, it means, if you want, a stronger confidence of foreign investors, particularly in the enormous economic potential that the Romanian economy has at the moment', he added. Such a partnership would be 'an insurance in case of strong turbulence in the euro area and not only, that Romania has the required resources it would need'.
The EIB representative appreciated that Romania was among the strongest states in the European Union in the first quarter as concerns the economic growth, along with the Baltic countries and Hungary.
According to Tanasescu, the economic growth in Romania should spring from two sources. Firstly, it's about structural reforms that should be continued and accelerated. Secondly, the economic growth should be encouraged by attraction of foreign funds in strategic areas and well-defined areas of development, so that, on a medium and long period, such capital inflows and financial inflows exist.
Regarding the National Plan on investments and jobs, launched by the Romanian Government last Thursday and which provides attraction of foreign investments of minimum 10 billion euros, set to create at least 50,000 jobs, EIB Vice-president underlined that the economic macro-stabilization of Romania paves the way for attracting major investments in certain well-defined areas, the most important aspect being the definition of the targets and areas in which the country can play a major role through its economic growth, leading to new jobs. 'What I think should be added to this picture are the resources that Romania needs to implement these investments, and resources already exist for many of those investments that have been enumerated', Mihai Tanasescu also said.