“Romania’s natural need for growth is so bad, and our intelligence and capability to find solutions, devise strategies, innovate and build new businesses definitely give us the potential to double or grow this indicator even more. We’ve got the potential, it remains for us to prove if we can coagulate strategically at a national level and do these things,” said Liviu Stoleru, general manager of brick maker Cemacon, held by the Paval brothers via Dedeman.
Liviu Stoleru attended the `Romania 100 de ani de business’ (Romania 100 years of business) conference organized by ZF in partnership with Banca Transilvania and audit and advisory firm EY Romania in Cluj-Napoca. This is the ninth such conference in a series that brought 65 speakers before more than 1,500 attendees.
“Romania’s GDP will definitely double in ten years, inflation helps, too,” said Dorel Goia, shareholder and chairman of the board of Teraplast, a construction material manufacturer.
On the other hand, Tiberiu Moisa, Deputy CEO, Network & Business Development of Banca Transilvania, says he would rather see Romania having steady growth and identify the industries that can become a driver of this growth.
“I would be more cautious about the idea of doubling or tripling the GDP. I would rather pay attention to how this economic growth is distributed, which are the industries that can become economic growth drivers, what we can do to make this whole idea of growth a virtue in itself,” Moisa said.
However, Alex Milcev, partner and head of tax & legal with EY Romania says Romania’s GDP can double in ten years if the country knows how to use international markets.
“A population of 19 million people can only take the economy so far but not to a EUR100 billion to EUR200 billion gain in ten years. We can look at the countries around us who have been exporting a lot and I can use Poland as an example again. Let’s not forget that the EU has a population of 400 million and Romania accounts for less than 5% of that, so we need to tap into this potential.”
Export and investment of Romanian companies abroad are very important to attain Romania’s growth target.
“This is where everything will come from: healthcare, education, higher salaries etc.,
Alex Milcev added.
Romania’s exports stood at EUR62 billion last year, that is less than half of its GDP.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)