“The year 2019 is a very ambitious goal, no doubt, but it was just an announced target, without an agenda. In order to meet the goal, Romania must come with a structural reform agenda, which needs implementation,” said Ionut Dumitru, Fiscal Council chairman and chief-economist of Raiffeisen Bank Romania.
“Romania needs real convergence, healthy and sustainable, and to maintain macroeconomic balance,” Dumitru told a debate on euro-zone issues, organized by the central bank.
In his turn, financial analyst Florin Citu said Romania has to choose when to reach convergence, before or after joining the single-currency area.
“Romania must understand it cannot avoid real reforms, real convergence is needed. It just needs to decide whether it will do it outside the euro-zone, when it has independent monetary policy, or inside the zone, when the policies are not that autonomous,” Citu said.
Radu Craciun, chief economist of BCR, said Romania will be forced to convergence after joining the euro-zone and will benefit in a similar manner with the EU accession.