Stiri	Stiri afaceri	Stiri companii	Evenimente de afaceri

Jeffrey Franks (IMF): Romania is not at half road on the way to euro zone accession yet

Jeffrey Franks, the head of IMF delegation to Buchrest stated in an interview offered to TVR that there are some signs that the economy is stabilising, despite the difficult situation Romania has to face.

IMF representative said that Romania is not yet at half-road on the way to euro zone accession. The head of IMF to Bucharest considers that in Romania the social contributions are high, as some don't pay taxes, but he considers that the government is willing to take into consideration dropping the taxes if the conditions allow it. Franks admits that there are abusive practises in some banks, but they must be stopped by the law without destroying the system.

Jeffrey Franks statements

- We keep our estimate of two, three months ago at about 1.5%. The economy is expeded to grow slowly over the first part of the year and then quickly for the rest of the year.

- The first effects on short term for fiscal adjustment could slow down the economy. The effects for long term could bring trust in economy, bring back the investors, drop the interest rates.

- The first obstacle we think we can change into an engine of growth are state debts. If we deal with this matter, there will be more money for investments and economy growth. The second zone we identified is that of European funds absorption. There almost 19 billion euro at Romania's disposal. If you could absorb about four or five billion euro per year, this could be a direct help for economy growth, it would equal 2-3% of GDP.

- I am not convinced that it is a good idea that tax payers pay taxes for the bad management of some companies.

- According to my opinion the best way to fight against corruption is to do three things : simplicity, responsibility and transparency. We have some recommendations regarding the improvement of the governing structure for state-owned companies.

- I am sure there are abusive practices in some banks and they should be stopped by law. We want to attack the abuses without destroying the system. The banks in Romania must ask bonus for the risk of placing the money in Romania and not in France or Austria.

- The area where there is growth is that of exports, which are at the level before the crisis.

- We can drop the taxes in a certain sector if there is a deficit of 12-15%of GDP, the instability would be so big that it would destroy the effects.

- I hope in a year, Romania could have achieved successfully the first part of the new programme, that there will be accelerated growth of 4-5%, there will be work places, there will be inflation under 4-5%, there will have been made significant progress as regards the restructuring of public companies and European funds absorption.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: there economy could jeffrey euro franks romania growth tvr