Economic activity "is gradually recovering"

The chief of the IMF mission to Romania said that the country's economic activity was gradually recovering, so in 2011 an economic growth of 1.5 percent was expected, and in the following year it should reach 3.5-4 percent.

Jeffrey Franks underlined the importance of maintaining prudent policies and further efforts to boost the absorption of EU funds.

The chief of the IMF mission to Romania said that inflation had started to decrease and the downward trend was expected to continue in the following months.

According to him, in the first half the deficit target was reached, and Romania is back on the track in terms of achieving the annual target cash deficit of 4.4 percent of GDP.

Jeffrey Franks drew attention on the fact that we have ensured the continuation of fiscal discipline and efforts should be made so that the benefits earned so hard may not be lost.

According to Jeffrey Franks, the first challenge is the health care system, which he described as "sick".

He said that the system requirements were much higher than the given resources, and the existing resources were often spent poorly.

Jeffrey Franks recommended a rethinking of the public services and financing of the health care sector.

The chief of the IMF mission to Romania said that another challenge for the economic recovery was the elimination of arrears owed by state companies, where management would be achieved largely by people selected by prestigious human resources company.

Jeffrey Franks also drew attention on the fact that poorly managed state-owned companies which are unprofitable could not be kept in.

Budget implementation process going "according to plan"

The European Commission representative for Romania, Istvan Szekely, said that the economic recovery programme could lead to an increase of 1.5 percent in 2011.

According to him, inflation is being reduced faster than it was initially expected.

Also, the budget implementation process is going according to plan in order to meet the budget targets, and the banking sector is stable.

The European Commission representative for Romania also said that they would expect an economic growth of 1.5 percent in 2011, which should rise by 3.5-4 percent in 2012.

Istvan Szekely, however, emphasized that reforms must be continued.

According to Istvan Szekely, every dollar lost by state owned enterprises is a leu less in the pocket of citizens, and it could have been spent otherwise, for instance, for health care.

Translated by: Denisse-Meda Bucura
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University