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Catalin Pauna (World Bank): Nobody measures if public investments have reached their aim

Romania has the biggest expenses with investments in Europe, but results are not measured and Finances have to justify some projects as public money is often allocated for 'black holes,' said Catalin Pauna, senior World Bank economist in Romania.

'Our public expenses with what we call investments are the highest in Europe and have been so for a long time. Some were explained by the convergence process. But if we look closely we often use public money to cover 'black holes', said Pauna quoted by Mediafax. According to him there are projects of the 70s and 80s which still get financing from the state budget and we should analyse whether such investments are still justified.

'We do not know what is happening with the money once we invest it. Nobody measures to what extent public investments have reached their aim. I think the Finance Ministry should focus on the investment portfolio at the level of credit coordinators as important income may come from there,' Pauna continued.The economist showed that talks about the level of taxation cannot be separated from the efficiency of spending public money.

'Expenses in the health system have grown enormously in the last 10 years. The same happened in education,' Pauna added.Referring to the question of low collecting at the state budget, Pauna says the solution will not be an easy one and mentioned Bulgaria's experience which succeeded to substantially improve budget incomes after a 6 year period.

'In Bulgaria there was a successful project which needed substantial restructuring of networks. There were over 200 collection territories. At the end of the process there were five in Bulgaria. Political will must have been determining. The leaders understood it was an important project which could bring huge benefits,' Pauna explained.

The World Bank official added that some measures have been adopted to reform the system, but results will not be seen immediately.'A 3.7% absorption degree for structural funds is very low after four years of EU membership. This restructuring is very difficult and takes a long time. We must be patient as we will not have results on a short run,' Pauna added.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: public pauna there investments measures world

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