One less anti-crisis measure a day later

The measure removed from the package was meant to raise the growth ratio of public domestic short and very short-term as part of total public domestic loans. It was removed as Romania already has substantial short-term debt.

As concerns the package of measures, it must be said that the first reaction from the business environment was skepticism. For some analysts, these measures are all about the upcoming elections, and lack both substance and clarity.

“The anti-crisis measure package is clearly a compromise. Most of these measures are not new, and are inapplicable at this time, such as the over-taxation of windfall profit. In this period of crisis, company profits have dropped dramatically, so windfall profit is unthinkable,” said Bogdan Baltazar, former President of Banca Română de Dezvoltare (BRD).

In spite of this initial reaction, Business Standard attempted to evaluate the quality of these measures, to see which measures might have a positive impact. Measures in the area of agriculture and budget expenditure are two of the most important, which could even enjoy the expected results.

“Among the measures listed, the ones relating to agriculture are most welcome, such as the establishment of a national program for the development of the food industry in the rural region. In the third quarter of the year, GDP [gross domestic product] is affected by agriculture, while agriculture is affected by the weather, so an irrigation system could lead to better agricultural production,” said Lucian Anghel, Chief Economist of Banca Comercială Română (BCR), for Business Standard.