EBRD: Romania needs to switch to investment-driven growth model

Romania’s economic results are fantastic but the current growth model based on consumption is not sustainable, according to Matteo Patrone, EBRD’s regional director for Romania and Bulgaria. He acknowledged Romania’s good economic performance, with high GDP growth, low public debt to GDP ratio and a budget deficit of under 3% of the GDP, local Agerpres reported. “The macroeconomic indicators look very well and the problem is whether this growth model is sustainable in the future, because it’s all based on consumption. We would like to see a switch from consumption-driven economic growth to an investment-driven one,” Patrone said. “This can be achieved with both public and private investments,” he added. EBRD is one of the biggest institutional investors active in Romania with EUR 546 million worth of new investments in 2017. Analysts expect significant slowdown in Romania’s growth editor@romania-insider.com