Romania's new finance minister questions inflation

Romania's new finance minister Dan Vilceanu started his mandate with two controversial statements that raise doubts about his training for this job.

In his first meeting with the journalists on Thursday, August 19, Vilceanu stated that there's "no economic growth without inflation," trying to pin the current inflation spike on the strong economic growth Romania recorded in the first half of this year, Hotnews.ro reported.

However, historical data shows that Romania also recorded significant economic growth in years with low inflation. In 2015 and 2016, the local economy went up by 3.9% and 4.0%, and the annual inflation rate was negative (both related to tax cuts operated by the Government).

The new finance minister also tried to downplay the current inflation rate saying that "the inflation rate is not 5%, this figure is just an estimation of Romania's National Bank." However, his statement is false because Romania's National Statistics Institute (INS) announced last week that the annual inflation rate reached 5% in July.

Dan Vilceanu, a 42-year-old Liberal MP, was nominated for the finance minister seat by PM Florin Citu, a former finance minister himself. However, unlike Citu, who has a strong background in finance, Vilceanu has spent most of his professional career working as an economist for his family's businesses.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Ilona Andrei)