In your opening remarks at Business Arena’s Financial Leaders’ Hall of Fame 2014 you emphasized the efforts made by banks in their bid to clean up portfolios. What are your expectations for 2015? What are the main issues facing the banking system this year?
The banking system must regain its sense of normality and free itself from the burden of non-performing loans that use up a great deal of financial and management resources. After the clean-up process, I believe we have reached a stage in which the situation is becoming manageable and banks now have the time and resources to look for new business opportunities. We also hope that the appetite for loans is going to grow. We have seen some signs of increased demand in lending activities and we also hope to see the confirmation of the forecasted economic growth. One of the mistakes made by the banking system in the past was to finance speculative investments. Now we must finance the creation of added value.
On the same occasion, you emphasized that Romania needed a more predictable fiscal environment and legislation. Are there any signs of improvement in those areas?
I believe it is important for us to have a predictable business environment. We should have a clear image of what sectors are important and there should be a national strategy for energy, infrastructure, agriculture, which would create a framework of predictability. Legislative changes should always be preceded by consultations with the business community. I have personally suggested that decision makers should closely evaluate impact studies, analyzing the potential consequences of their proposed legislative changes, allowing for longer consultation and implementation periods. For example, we have heard discussions about changes to the Labor Code recently. If we look at statistics, we see that the unemployment rate has gone down, the number of jobs is up, and the average salary has increased. So, I am wondering what needs to be changed. I do not understand why we have to generate a sense of uncertainty among entrepreneurs with regard to the labor code at this stage. The country needs investments that create added value for the long term, instead of the so-called ‘hot money’. So the business environment should offer long-term predictability.
The banking system must regain its sense of normality and free itself from the burden of non-performing loans that use up a great deal of financial and management resources. After the clean-up process, I believe we have reached a stage in which the situation is becoming manageable and banks now have the time and resources to look for new business opportunities. We also hope that the appetite for loans is going to grow. We have seen some signs of increased demand in lending activities and we also hope to see the confirmation of the forecasted economic growth. One of the mistakes made by the banking system in the past was to finance speculative investments. Now we must finance the creation of added value.
On the same occasion, you emphasized that Romania needed a more predictable fiscal environment and legislation. Are there any signs of improvement in those areas?
I believe it is important for us to have a predictable business environment. We should have a clear image of what sectors are important and there should be a national strategy for energy, infrastructure, agriculture, which would create a framework of predictability. Legislative changes should always be preceded by consultations with the business community. I have personally suggested that decision makers should closely evaluate impact studies, analyzing the potential consequences of their proposed legislative changes, allowing for longer consultation and implementation periods. For example, we have heard discussions about changes to the Labor Code recently. If we look at statistics, we see that the unemployment rate has gone down, the number of jobs is up, and the average salary has increased. So, I am wondering what needs to be changed. I do not understand why we have to generate a sense of uncertainty among entrepreneurs with regard to the labor code at this stage. The country needs investments that create added value for the long term, instead of the so-called ‘hot money’. So the business environment should offer long-term predictability.
To read the full version, see the print edition of Business Arena.
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