Romania to receive a visit from EBRD President

Romania is set to welcome the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, in the first two days of February for talks with some of the country’s leading men and women. The meeting will take place in Bucharest and will see Sir Suma talk with the President, Klaus Iohannis, the Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos, National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu as well as the Finance Minister, Anca Paliu Dragu who also acts as Romania’s EBRD Governor. Many other business officials will make an appearance to discuss the speed of reforms, the investment climate in addition to the state of the economy as a whole.

Sir Suma has said “This year, Romania’s economic growth is expected to be one of the highest in Europe. We hope that private sector investment will extend to more sectors of the economy, as investor sentiment improves. We also trust that public sector investment will resume and that the country will be able to absorb more EU funds. As a supporter of Romania’s capital market development, the EBRD is hopeful that 2016 will bring new issues of equity and debt. Romania has strong potential and the EBRD stands ready to expand and deepen its activities in the country, responding to the demand for financing.”

The EBRD has shown time and time again to be a big supporter of Romania in the past investing nearly €7 billion and freeing nearly €15 billion in financing. The EBRD has changed its strategy for Romania of late though and have set out a plan to widen access to finance, make the private sector more competitive and also to improve infrastructure thus reducing the ‘distance’ between regions, bringing the country closer together; this plan has been laid out for the next four years.