Foreign direct investment as life-support system

“Countries such as Romania, which lag behind in terms of reform have only one advantage: they can learn from the successful experience of the other states and avoid the mistakes they made,” Ziad Alahdad, head of the World Bank’s Romanian office on Tuesday said. His statements were made during the conference announcing the Eastern European Investment Summit – Expanding the European Investment Frontier, to be held in Bucharest on October 14 and 15, 2003.
The event will be organised by the International Herald Tribune together with the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP) and the Romanian Government.
Romania is one of the EU applicants registering one of the lowest levels of foreign direct investment per capita.
This ratio reached $350/capita in Romania last year, compared with $1,000/capita in the Central European countries.
“The World Bank feels the only benchmark for assessing a country’s position in terms of business environment is the foreign direct investment level. Romania’s being invited to join the NATO does in no way replace the reforms that must be conducted,” Alahdad says.
The official financing flows and the budgets of the governments will not be able to bear the economic growth goals in SE Europe by themselves, so that foreign direct investments are needed, Olivier Descamps, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) regional director in his turn says.
“Every government in the region must not look at its country only, but compare it with the other countries in the region. Foreign investors are cautious. They signal: we will come here only if we are convinced there is real determination to speed up reforms,” Descamps explains.
The EBRD official says the Romanian economy sectors that can be attractive to investors are those already targeted.