Electoral year no good for business

No matter how many reassurances we might get from the political leaders, 2004 is a year that will suffer in terms of business, Misu Negritoiu, ING Bank Romania deputy general manager told Ziarul Financiar.

“It is hard to demonstrate, to substantiate with feasibility studies for a specific business that 2004 is a regular year. The electoral period already creates premises for subjective doubts as far as the businessman is concerned, anyway. Under the circumstances, we cannot possibly expect business to surge this year,” Negritoiu says.

The current tension in the relations with the European Union is just one example of the disturbances that may arise, especially now that more concrete effects of the delay in the structural economic and administrative reforms are starting to show.

Negritoiu believes 2004 to be a crucial year in terms of ensuring the political and economic stability to build upon in 2005. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase has repeatedly said his Government does not think it has to choose between reform and winning the elections, but last year’s very slow reform, blamed by the international institutions, does not sustain such a commitment.

“After the electoral year hangover wears out, we can talk about a new beginning,” Misu Negritoiu says. Romania stands the chance of seeing the idea of doing business here discussed “in completely different terms” in 2005, provided it should conclude EU accession negotiations and conduct structural reforms to have the country rating upgraded to a BBB, which shows a low investment risk.
razvan.voican@zf.ro