Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca met on April 4 with representatives of the Romanian Association of Banks (ARB) and stressed, in the context, that there is a need for financial and banking instruments capable of complementing European funds for those who want to invest.

"Romanian entrepreneurs, farmers, the food industry and the energy system need funding to be able to develop. To achieve this [enhanced competitiveness], we need financial and banking instruments capable of complementing European funds for those who want to invest," PM Ciuca said, according to Economica.net.

However, according to the 11CEE Corporate and Retail Lending Survey report published by eAnalytics, financial intermediation in Romania is the lowest among the 11 countries in central and eastern Europe.

The corporate loans to GDP ratio in Romania have dropped by 4.6pp over the past decade to 12.1% at the end of 2022, compared to the region's 15.9% average.

Estonia (26.1%), Bulgaria (24.9%), Slovakia (21.2%), and Croatia (20.5%) have all ratios superior to 20%, while the largest economy in the region (Poland) features financial intermediation not much higher than Romania's (13.0%).

iulian@romania-insider.com

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