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Opinion
June 21, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
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many such ratios being computed to around 50%. However, Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Czech Republic and others have much higher ratios. Nevertheless, the set of immediate measures to be taken by the Romanian authori- ties mentioned in the quoted articles (increase exports, develop tourism, attract more foreign direct investment, full absorption of the EU funds, re-develop the industrial and agri-business po- tential of the country, introduce more favourable treatment of the inflow of remittances, abolish or heavily tax the special pensions, etc.) should be treated as being needed now. All of those pro- posed measures are more valid than ever, but
the focus of the Romanian authorities has been more on justice and the forthcoming presidential elections than anything else. This is not the right direction and therefore millions of Romanians are disillusioned with the current Romanian authori- ties. Hence the sharp changes in voting during
the European Parliament elections in May 2019. Avoiding unsustainable populist measures and control of foreign debt should be a national prior- ity, but the politicians in power do not want to hear this. Currently they have other priorities which are not in consonance with the will of the electorate, but this will be taxed soon by the voters.
Alexandru M. Tanase is an independent consultant and former associate director, senior banker
at the EBRD and former IMF advisor. These are personal views of the author. The assessments and views expressed are not those of the
NBR and/or of any other institution quoted. The assessment and data are based on information as of mid-June 2019.