“Markets would be delighted to see Romania drawing a line in the budget and saying: the deficit is raised by three additional percentage points for this vital investment package, of EUR1 billion for railway rehabilitation and other allocations for a maximum of 10 large projects such as Tarnita hydropower station and Comarnic-Brasov and Pitesti-Sibiu highway sections,” Vladescu said.
“There are projects that can be supported only through state guarantees, without incurring actual expenses. They would show in the budget gap, but will not put pressure on expenditure,” he added.
The idea is not new, but it was not brought up in official discussions.
The former finance minister admits the lack of political credibility and negotiation capacity needed for the government to support such a point of view in front of the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.
“Therefore we can only hope Europe will grow and drag us along, because I do not see where the growth support could come from internally,” Vladescu said.