At the end of December 2013, EUR2.8 billion worth of European funds reached Romania. On top of the EUR2.2 billion the country got in 2008-2012, this takes the total absorption figure in 2007-2013 to EUR5 billion.
The 2013 target was EUR5 billion, so the goal was half met. If the absorption pace (the doubling of the funds attracted every year) was to maintain, Romania’s economy should get EUR5 billion in 2014.
Total absorption rate reached 26% at the end of December 2013 compared with the 50% goal, which means Romania only got one quarter of the EUR20 billion structural funds set aside for it by the EU in 2007-2013.
Even so, Romania’s central bank took advantage of the foreign currency that entered the country via the Finance Ministry in 2013 to keep the leu under control, which governor Mugur Isarescu himself pointed out.
“Any capital inflow supports the forex market and reimbursements for EU-funded projects are net euro-denominated capital inflows, even though they reach their beneficiaries in lei,” said Romulus Andrei, head of structured finance at Volksbank.
EU fund inflows also helped curb foreign debt, which reached EUR97.3 billion in November 2013 (EUR2.4 billion lower than in 2012).
European fund minister Eugen Teodorovici on Tuesday said he set a 2014 goal of “EUR2.8 billion to avoid losing even a single euro”, according to Mediafax news agency. His estimates are more pessimistic than those of the analysts who say at least EUR5 billion should enter Romania in form of reimbursements in 2014.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)