FIC proposes measures to restart the economy

The Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC) launched on Thursday a series of 80 economic measures entitled the Program for Economic Growth – Priority Measures to Restart the Economy. The proposed measures come in addition to the Government’s austerity plan and, if implemented, will not go against the budgetary target agreed upon with the IMF, said FIC representatives.

“We are convinced that on the short term the Romanian economy can return on growth, with minimal costs, if we follow a clear strategy, endorsed both by the Government and the business environment. To make sure that this happens, we are willing to offer our expertise, to work together with the authorities and to allocate consistent financial resources in order to support the priority actions”, said Mariana Gheorghe, president of FIC and CEO of Petrom.

The measures target 10 distinct fields which cover the economy’s most important objectives: macroeconomic stabilization, implementing a more efficient governance, supporting SMEs and investments, absorbing EU funds, improving the infrastructure, agriculture and fiscality, judicial reform and modernizing the public sector.

According to FIC’s econometric projections, implementing the program’s 12 priority measures alone should generate by 2015 an additional cumulated economic growth of 11.6 percent, 250,000 new jobs and an 8.5 percent increase of budgetary incomes, all with additional budgetary costs of 0.8 percent of the GDP. Some of the 12 priority measures include: creating a Claims Registry that should offer public information about the firms’ state receivables, implementing and starting the First Home 3 program, privatizing state-owned companies through the capital market, setting a clear calendar for developing the infrastructure, offering financial facilities for SME’s and making the labor law more flexible.

Gheorghe said that FIC representatives have already begun talks with the authorities and this will continue over the next weeks. The first results will be announced in November.

FIC has over 110 member companies which have so far invested over EUR 30 billion in Romania which roughly amounts to two thirds of the total investments to Romania, according to FIC data.

Simona Bazavan