The disastrous performance in building the transport infrastructure discourages investments and economic growth in Romania, says Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group – which controls BCR.
“Romania has a better chance than Hungary of getting out of the
difficult situation it is in. The big advantage is the very low
foreign debt and the right mix of labour cost and productivity. But
what acts as a significant dampener on investments and on economic
growth is the disastrous state of transport infrastructure works,”
said Treichl at a conference with investors organised in
Croatia.
He says in general the economy progresses irrespective of how
poor-performing or how good politicians are, but the transport
problem “is a serious problem.”
The head of Erste believes Romania’s real advantage in the region
is its potential as a logistic centre, combined with the low cost
of labour and the size of the local market. As on every occasion
when he has commented on Romania’s situation, the Austrian banker
also denounced the low degree of absorption of EU funds.