Sovereign fund to bring EUR 8 bln into Romania's economy

Over EUR 8 billion will enter the Romanian economy in the next three years through the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund, the new economy minister Danut Andrusca said on Monday, during hearings in the Parliament’s specialty committees. “The fund will lead, among others, to the appearance of many new factories, in agriculture and industry, and the capitalization of some state companies, such as Tarom, CFR, the Constanta shipyard, CEC, Nuclearlectrica, so they can continue their activity or buy new capacities: aircraft fleets, ships, trains. The fund’s biggest investments in the next three years will be in the health sector, through the construction of a republican hospital and eight regional hospitals, whose value is estimated at EUR 3.1 billion. Another EUR 3 billion will go into highways and fast railways, especially the highways that can’t be finalized or started with EU funds,” Andrusca said. He added that the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are interested in financing highways in a public-private partnership in Romania. The launching a sovereign fund was one of the main promises the Social Democratic Party (PSD) made in the 2016 electoral campaign, but it hasn’t been implemented so far. The fund should hold and manage the state’s stakes in important companies in the energy, transport and communications sector, among others. editor@romania-insider.com