Romania’s prime minister Ludovic Orban promised on May 4 that his Government would launch a comprehensive package aimed at restarting the economy.

President Klaus Iohannis also spoke about this plan on May 5, calling it a "project for rebuilding Romania."

The package will include massive public investments in all types of infrastructure, according to the two officials.

The budget revenues have recovered and are better than initially estimated, prime minister Ludovic Orban said in a press conference on Monday evening.

As regards the economic recovery package, PM Orban promised that the Government would pay from public money, for a certain period, between 35% and 41.5% of the wages for employees that return to work from technical unemployment. It will also provide state guarantees to large enterprises [just like those provided to SMEs under the IMM Invest scheme].

The Government also plans to set up an investment fund financed from public resources “based on the Polish model.” The fund could be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange to draw money from the population as well.

PM Orban also said that the Government wants to invest in public projects 6% of GDP over the coming two years.

“Our goal is to allocate 6% of GDP for public investment over two years. The amounts mobilized to finance these investment objectives are higher than they have ever been in history," Orban said.

"A fundamental objective of the economic recovery plan, which we are working on with the Orban Government, is the massive increase of public investment in all types of infrastructure, from energy to transport and health," president Klaus Iohannis said on May 5.

"Quality Romanian products are also a resource that we will promote much better. We will support significant investments in economic sectors of strategic interest, such as agriculture and food industry, energy security, but also health. Modernizing and digitizing the administration, which has already started, will continue," he added after a meeting with representatives of the business environment.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)