Economy minister: Romania is like a sick man, who sometimes catches a cold. It lacks the other countries' strength to emerge from the economic-financial crisis

Romania lacks the strength that other EU countries have shown, namely the countries that recorded a profit in the second quarter. France Germany and Japan announced they have emerged from recession, while Romania’s economy dropped nine percents in Q2, Romanian Economy minister Adriean Videanu said in an interview for RFI. The minister believes that Romania’s economy will re-launch in 2010.

„We need to have a realistic perspective on things. Romania is far from having the strength of France, Germany or Japan. Romania is like a sick man, who sometimes gets a cold, as proposed to the other countries, which represent a healthy economic organism and which make use of completely different resources to emerge from the downturn. Romania cannot keep up with these countries. It is dependent especially in the EU countries, because the economic decrease from the latest period it is mainly due to the decrease in exports on the European markets. The European Union’s recovery means a good condition for the recovery of the Romanian economy as well”, Videanu said.

The Economy minister also commented on President Basescu’s saying that there are chances for Romania to emerge from recession during the last 2009 months. Videanu said:

„Yes, it is also the evaluation that we and the International Monetary Fund came to. The IMF’s forecast for 2010 is + 0.5. I’m a bit more optimist, but it is important that both us and the Fund see an economic re-launch in 2010.”

What will the 32 measures announced by the governing coalition solve regarding the economic crisis? Business environment representatives say that these measures do not stimulate the work force and employment.

„This is completely false, it is one of our main objectives, but employment must be connected with the mean national production. (…) There must be a balance between the two. The need to keep jobs is the most important when it comes to emerging from the crisis”, the minister concluded.