UniCredit Tiriac Bank: Foreign direct investments to Romania to reach EUR 5 bln this year

UniCredit Tiriac Bank expects foreign direct investments in Romania to stay between EUR 4 and 5 billion this year. The bank's chief economist Rozalia Pal believes Romania will continue to see negative results in the first and second quarters of the year, which will influence the investor sentiment. “Although there are positive things in the first month of the year, both locally and internationally, the gap could impact the investors' perspective,”said Pal. The public sector has sent some positive messages at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 on some structural reforms, like the 2011 state budget law, the unitary salary law and the pensions law. “All these reflect some sort of improvement and a continuation of reforms in 2011,” said Pal. UniCredit believes the Romanian economy dropped by 2.5 percent last year and expects an economic increase of 1.7 percent for 2011. Foreign direct investments in the first 11 months of last year stood at EUR 2.27 billion in Romania, according to data reported by the Romanian Central Bank (BNR). FDI to Romania reached EUR 4.89 billion in 2009, down almost 50 percent on 2008. editor@romania-insider.com