According to Dancu, an economic growth without development is of no use to people or the future, because it is rather an economic growth which eats up resources and makes believe it is a positive dynamic, when in fact it is useless.
Dancu said a national strategy is necessary at the moment, which should be a model in Europe for the development of rural areas, considering that Romania is the last “rural civilization.”
“I think the country currently needs a new strategy, which should be a national one, because it is hard to apply only global strategies in Romania, which is the last rural civilization, therefore, our country is the European model in this respect. We must be the ones creating this strategy,” said Dancu.
He added that a part of the state budget must be pumped into education and healthcare in upcoming years, for the purpose of developing rural communities.
Romania’s 2016 state budget draft considers a deficit of 2.8% of gross domestic product, within the EU limit of 3%, to accommodate tax cuts and wage raises passed by the previous government. The finance ministry drafted the budget on a projected economic growth of 4.1% and a GDP of 746.6 billion lei (EUR167.4 billion).
The government expects a 1.6% growth in revenue to the consolidated state budget, mainly due to improved value-added tax collections, which are seen rising by 8.3%.