Romanian Economy Seen Growing 6% In 2012 – IMF Official

Romanian economy is likely to reach its growth potential of 5% to 6% per year as of 2012, Romania’s representative at the International Monetary Fund, Mihai Tanasescu said Thursday.

„For this year, I’m estimating an economic growth of 1.3%-1.5%, followed by a larger increase in 2011, while Romania’s potential of 5%-6% will be reached in 2012,” Tanasescu told an economic seminar.

He said the economy growth will no longer match the growth levels before the crisis, but the upcoming increases must be sustainable.

The 2010 economic growth will be rather shy, driven mostly by exports and industrial output.

„The signals pointing to this direction regard the exports, which started to recover, and the increased industrial output, broadly in the steel sector. These are encouraging signs,” Tanasescu said.

However, he warned that risks still exist and the authorities must show discipline and implement reforms swiftly.

„Investors will be confused, unless the state’s tone is firm,” Tanasescu said.

Romania should adjust local production and services to consumers’ preferences instead of relying on imports, which only indebt the country, the IMF official added.

„Unless we learn to adapt the products and services to people’s needs, then the crisis we’ve been through was for nothing,” Tanasescu said.

He gave as example the agriculture, where approximately 70% of the food products are imported, saying that increasing the sector’s weight in the gross domestic product should be a priority in the next years.