Central and South-East Financial Forum in Bucharest

Bucharest, May 20 /Agerpres/ - Taking place in Bucharest over May 19-22 on the future of money is the sixth edition of the Central and South-East European Financial Forum, which gathers over 250 business people, representatives of the banking system and politicians. Among the fields hit by the crisis due to be in the focus of attention at the forum in Bucharest are the banking field, the access to structural funds, private insurance, regional investment.

Among the participants in the forum are Joseph Stiglitz, economic adviser to the US President Barack Obama and Nobel prize winner, Mugur Isarescu governor of the central bank, Mircea Geoana, chairman of the Senate, Gheorghe Pogea, public finance minister, Vasile Puscas, minister for European Affairs, Tony Lybek, representative of IMF for Romania and Bulgaria.

Present at the opening of the event, PM Emil Boc talked about the impact of the economic crisis in Romania and about the methods to curb its effects.

'The economic crisis is also an opportunity. Romanians say that there's good in every evil. Maybe Romania, in these difficult times, may find the chance to make these structural reforms which haven't been made over the past years. The crisis is an opportunity, an opportunity to manage public spending in accordance with the public interest, but also of taking those measures which, unluckily, no Government has had the courage to take over the past 20 years,' said Emil Boc.

The economic crisis is not also an ideological one says PM Emil Boc, who believes that 'the seed' of the crisis lies in the incapacity of mechanisms in the market economy to work normally.

'There are not few those who have seen in this crisis, it is true, the strongest in the past 60 years, also the end of the market economy, the end of the values at the basis of prosperity in the EU and the other democratic states in the world. The economic crisis is not also an ideological crisis. This does not mean that the seed of the crisis does not lie in the incapacity of mechanisms in the market economy to work normally, ' said, on Wednesday, PM Emil Boc, at a financial forum for Central and South-Eastern Europe.

He stressed that the market economy supposes the existence of check rules and means, which have to be functional.

'I essentially believe that the origin of the crisis does not lie in the market economy, but in the incapacity of mechanisms of balance and control within the market economy to be functional. I think of the incapacity of some mechanisms in the financial-banking sector to work properly. They are those mechanisms that had the duty to check that the rules of the game are observed by everybody, at some time they did not work as they should have to, and now the problem is the existence of new regulation mechanisms in the financial field, ' said Emil Boc.

He reminded that at the European Council this June discussed will be a new plan about the checking regulations in the financial field, to prevent 'slippages' in future.

'I believe in the values of the market economy, I believe in the market economy, if its rules are observed, it can offer prosperity to the world, Romania included, and I believe that the strengthening of the mechanisms of financial auditing can be the solution to overcome, in some respect, a difficult period of the economic crisis, said Boc.

According to the head of Government, in Romania, the effects of the economic crisis are stressed by the fact that, in the good times for Romania, with an economic growth of 8-9 percent, we did not make savings for more difficult times'. Because of that, some countries can talk about curbing fiscality, precisely because when the economic situation was good they amassed financial resources,' said PM Boc.

The maintenance of the jobs is Government's top priority during the period of crisis and this is not possible without massive public investments.

'A priority to us is to maintain work places. A fifth of the public money will be invested to replace the public money,' said Boc.

According to the head of the Romanian Government, the resumption of crediting is another priority of the authorities, alongside the obtaining of a poised and stable exchange rate of the leu currency.

PM Boc added that the absorption of the European funds is another chance of Romania to curb the effects of the crisis and to develop.

'It is a chance which Romania has, of being able to absorb over 2007-2013 over 30 billion euros from the European Union. We know that the funds will be allotted only for feasible projects, in line with the European laws. It also a priority of the Government which I represent,' said Emil Boc.

PM Boc talked also about the reduction of budget expenditures and the prudent spending of public money, about the conclusion of the agreement on financial aid with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund and about the utilization of the levers which the Government has at disposal.

'It is also the Government's role to use the levers which it has at disposal. I refer to component of state aid, the component of governmental guarantees, of supporting strategic fields of the national economy, of supporting those fields in which Romania has a competitive advantage in relation to other countries. And there are fields. There's the agriculture field, the energy field, the constructions sector where there's still a major demand on the Romanian market of supporting such a field and of generating, as an outcome, jobs, I refer to the tourism field. There are fields of the economy where Romania, compared to other states, has competitive advantages which the Government has to promote,' said Boc.

[Source: Romanian National News Agency AGERPRES ]