Romania still competitive on cheap things such as salaries

BNR’s Lazea: Romania still competitive on cheap things such as salaries, energy or raw materials

Newsroom 08/12/2016 | 14:39

According to National Bank of Romania (BNR) chief economist Valentin Lazea, Romania is still competitive when it comes to ‘cheap’ things, such as salaries, energy or raw materials.

“In order to become competitive through other things, it means it should have infrastructure, proper institutions, public administration, so if we make structural reforms and solve those problems then the foreigners who will come to Romania will pay bigger salaries. To the same people, with the same qualifications they pay smaller salaries because the foreigners see corruption, poor administration, bad roads,” Lazea said.

According to Lazea, “although the wage increases approved recently are not taken into account, a 3.2 percent deficit would place Romania alongside France and Spain as the only countries out of the 28 that exceed the 3 percent threshold. Certainly they will try to fit in the 3 percent, but how? Cutting the investments. The first to be cut, because nobody is screaming, are investments,” the BNR head economist said.