The longest-lasting leading figure in
\npost-communist Romania is the country’s Central Bank governor, Mugur Isarescu.
\nBorn in 1949, Isarescu is also the longest lasting chief of a central bank in
\nthe world as he has been on the job since 1990. As an independent candidate, in
\n1999 he headed the country’s then center-to-right coalition government and in
\nthe next year he ran, without being successful though, for the country’s
\npresidential seat, mustering only 9.54% of the votes in the first round. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
He came back to the
\nposition of governor, which he has kept for nearly a quarter of a century.
\nAlthough not very popular with some, his competence and determination haven’t
\nbeen contested yet.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Over the past three
\ndecades, Isarescu has cooperated with many heads of government and Finance
\nMinisters, so his statements have more weight than the emphatic platitudes uttered
\nby the Romanian politicians who have often failed to fulfil their pledges. On
\nthe very day, the new PSD-PNL government, headed by social-democrat Marcel Ciolacu,
\nwas instated, the Central Bank governor called on the political decision-makers
\nto adopt what he called a rational thinking. During a new round of talks on the
\ncountry’s economic prospects, he mentioned the two directions any development
\nstrategy should be based on: coordination with the European economy and also the
\nneed for balancing the domestic supply-demand ratio. Agriculture, certain industrial areas or
\nthe green energy, he says, should become top priorities and more relevant on
\ncertain markets, such as the food market, currently under fierce competition.
\nThe governor has confessed, his amazement at Romania’s huge food imports in
\nspite of having a significant agricultural potential. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The business environment prospects have
\nbeen presented by the president of the Romanian Chamber of Trade and Industry,
\nMihai Daraban, who believes that a viable economic model must start with the
\nidea of association in the agrifood field, which has registered a significant
\nimbalance in the country’s international trade. Poland, which boasts one-third
\nmore surface than Romania, has only 90 thousand farmers, whereas Romania has
\n796 thousand, most of them owners of small farms. So it has become now very
\ndifficult to talk about competitiveness in this area,’ says the head of the
\nTrade Chamber, whom the economic media has dubbed ‘the employer of employers’. Daraban
\nhas been pleading for Romania’s administrative-territorial reshuffle, which
\nmeans the reduction of the number of communes and counties by bringing them
\ntogether under the same umbrella, and implicitly cutting down costs with the local
\nadministrations, which proved ineffective and terribly expensive. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bankers and businessmen have called on the Romanian government to change its economic policies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":96043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35241,35351,40928,29212,30059,34756],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-96042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-bank","tag-ciolacu","tag-daraban","tag-economy","tag-isarescu","tag-mugur"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n