Chance of good money from privatisation missed?

The privatisation market in the Central and Eastern Europe is not what it used to be back in ’95-’96, when countries like Poland and Hungary sold their most important companies. Romania missed this opportunity and the chances of getting prices like those the countries in the Central Europe did are almost none to zero now. “Romania is paying the price of delaying the privatisation. Today’s market is not what it used to be 5 or 7 years ago. This does not necessarily mean privatisation must come to a halt, but only that the prices will not be as high as expected, compared with those obtained by the nearby countries,” says Kalman Miszei, head of the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS. Miszei thinks International Monetary Fund’s expectations of the progress Romania could make in terms of privatisation soon are too bold. “If Romania can achieve only half of what IMF expects of it, it has already done great. It would be best if at least two or three issues, such as the companies in Brasov or Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank – BCR) could be addressed in a year,” the UNDP official added. ZF