BNR governor: EIB survey ascertains improvement of overall picture of Romanian investments

According to the findings of the European Investment Bank, the overall picture of investments in Romania has improved, and expectations related to the economic climate have grown substantially, governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Mugur Isarescu said on Tuesday at the presentation of the report "EIB Investment Survey Country Overview 2023 : Romania"."Just like in previous years, this event focuses on the EIB Investment Survey, a very useful country analysis conducted by the EIB. The 2023 edition focuses on the most important issues facing Romanian companies today, such as energy costs, climate change and the green transition. We are happy to see that, according to the EIB's findings, the overall picture of investments in Romania has improved compared to the previous edition. For example, expectations related to Romania's economic climate have increased substantially. Also, according to the survey, Romanian companies display higher optimism than the EU average when it comes to the availability of internal and external financing," Mugur Isarescu told the conference "Transforming for Competitiveness" organized by the National Bank of Romania and the European Investment Bank.According to the BNR governor, the conclusions of the survey represent a valuable complement to those of the Romanian central bank's own survey on access to financing of non-financial corporations in Romania."Our survey captures the views of the real sector on: the most pressing problems faced by companies in their activity; the cost of financing; the implications of a possible appreciation/depreciation of the national currency, and the impact of climate change. Taking into account the growing concerns about climate change and the impact of mitigation policies on the banking sector, the National Bank of Romania also launched in 2021 a survey that looks at the main developments in terms of climate change and green financing through several indicators in five categories: real economy, physical risk, transition risk, green financing and government policies," Isarescu said.According to the 2023 EIB Investment Survey, Romanian companies have shown a resilience beyond expectations in the face of the economic slowdown and are prioritizing the expansion of their production capacity.