Donato De Rosa, senior economist at the World Bank, said both local and foreign companies in Romania are less productive compared with their peers in the region, but the local firms have grown faster than the ones with foreign capital.
Therefore, the foreign investments in Romanian mature sectors have generated the lowest value added in Central Europe, De Rosa told an economic seminar in Bucharest.
However, there is also a good side, as foreign companies represent a positive model for their local counterparts and they have a stimulant effect on the business environment, he added.
According to World Bank data, foreign companies in Romania reported a 2.6% annual growth of their value added in 2003-2008, compared with a growth of 5.9% posted by local firms.
In comparison, foreign companies in Poland reported an annual growth of their value added of 12.4% during the mentioned interval, followed by the ones in Slovenia (10.1% a year), the Czech Republic (4.3%) and Estonia (2.9%).