AmCham hopes that Romanian politicians will continue to focus on economy after the elections
The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham), one of the most powerful local business organizations, thinks that Romania’s future Government should focus its efforts in five areas that are essential for economic growth, namely human capital, infrastructure, attracting investments, sustainable development and environment protection, and rule of law and law enforcement.
AmCham members also see the need for “a cross party alignment of all relevant stakeholders to define and adopt a multi-generational country project”.
“Compared to the previous elections, we notice an increased presence of economy related topics in the elections agenda and we hope for the attention of the candidates to remain the same after the elections,” said Ionut Simion, AmCham Romania’s President.
Simion, who’s also the Country Managing Partner of PwC Romania, believes that the populist measures that politicians are tempted to take before the elections, may lead to tax increases later if these measures can’t be supported on the medium term. “We have nothing against populist measures, but we are worried that they won’t be sustainable – past experience has confirmed this – and that we will see new tax hikes. These proposals for new taxes are usually made overnight and, in the end, it’s we, companies, who pay for them,” Simion explained in a press conference.
AmCham sees the electoral period also as an opportunity to state its vision of what the priorities of the 2016 – 2020 legislative and executive mandate should be.
“AmCham’s recommendations provide a clear picture of the business community priorities with regard to strategic sectors that require both immediate and midterm actions. Hopefully many of the recommendations set forth by the Priorities for Romania will eventually be incorporated by the political parties in their platforms in order to reach the common goal of increasing Romania’s economic competitiveness,” Ionut Simion added.
According to AmCham, the main landmarks of the 2016-2020 mandate are Romania’s EU Council Presidency between January-June 2019, and, internally, defining the strategic country positioning project, meant to build coherence in the public policies, investment allocation, end an efficient use of all types of resources.
“From an economic perspective, a medium-term development requires building on the main advantages that facilitated Romania’s economic growth so far, that is the capitalization of sectors with high competitive potential, the relatively low level of public debt, the systematic investments in human capital, the energy independence and security,” according to AmCham.
The five essential areas for future economic growth and the actions that should be taken, in AmCham’s view are:
I. Human Capital, through measures aimed at reversing the demographic trend, retaining the skilled labor force in the local market, ensuring continuity in the education system reform and investments, increasing the budgetary allocation for health jointly with efforts to increase system efficiency and access to quality medical services.
II. Modern Infrastructure needed to increase efficiency in agriculture through a modern irrigation system, using the latest technologies, positioning Romania on the map of global digital economy and implementing and financing the transportation Master Plan without further delays.
III. Attracting Capital Inflows through strategic public investments and ensuring a favorable framework for new businesses, developing a strong and liquid capital market, as an alternative financing source and attracting new FDI.
IV. Sustainable development and environment protection by way of Maximizing the efficiency in managing Romania’s wealth of natural resources, developing Tourism due to its potential to the overall economic growth, protecting the forests and providing a sustainable framework for waste management.
V. Rule of Law and Law Enforcement, by consolidating integrity in the public and private sector, by continuing the anti-corruption efforts, implementing ethics standards, reducing bureaucracy and ensuring an effective justice.
AmCham’s full Priorities for Romania report is available here (in Romanian).
editor@romania-insider.com
