BCR: Romania might increase growth potential to 5-5.5% with money from Cohesion Policy and NextGen

Romania might increase its econmic growth potential to 5-5.5% if it absorbed money from the Cohesion Policy and NextGenerationEU Funds, from 3.5% at present, said BCR CEO Sergiu Manea on Wednesday, at the launch of George SmartEU, the first application of a local bank offering complete information on European funds.   “I will speak about two big umbrellas, the Cohesion Policy and NextGenerationEU. If we succeed to absorb this money we have within the Multiannual Financial Frame 2021-2027, what will we do? We add a little over 2% to GDP in the following years, but the most important thing is we succeed in increasing Romania's growth potential by 1% permanently. If we do the same thing through NextGenerationEU, PNRR is part of NextGenerationEU, we also increase the GDP potential by 1% once more. What does that mean? The arithmetic total sould be like that: instead of a 3.5% growth potential Romania has today, we could speak about a 5-5.5% potential. From there to 7.21% needed to double GDP in the next 10 years the distance is not that big,”Manea said.   He explained that George SmartEU is helping entrepreneurs by “demistifying and debunk”European funds.   According to BCR, by introducing George SmartEU, the bank facilitates access to financial grants and instruments for Romanian businesses and offers an integrated portfolio of solutions and services for companies which intend to grow sustainably and capitalize initiatives.   In its turn, Florin Jianu, the chairman of the National Small Company Council of Romania (CNIPMMR), consider that not all entrepreneurs see the beenfits of European funds and they should speak about good practice models and entrepreneurs who became successful with EU funds. In his opinion, European funds help setting up companies and stabilizing them in the market.   “Too many companies in Romania close down every year and that means they are not fully developed because they are not backed as they should,”Jianu said.