BNR official : The picture of the whole 2025 belongs to a large spectrum of uncertainties and risks, economic and political

The picture of 2025 belongs to a large spectrum of uncertainties and risks, economic and political, domestic and foreign and for Romania, the key challenges are those connected to the consolidation of the public finances and financial sustainability, stated on Friday the vice-governor of the National Bank of Romania, Cosmin Marinescu at the third edition of teh Financial Education Forum.   ' The picture of 2025 belongs to  a large spectrum of uncertainties and risks, economic and political, domestic and foreign. For Romania, the key challenges stay those connected to consolidation of public finances and financial sustainability especially after the slippage of the budgetary deficit of 2024. Even more burdening are the foreign deficits which are growing, but which must be corrected profoundly through healthy policies and through competitiveness. Romania needs to regain and consolidate the trust of the investors. From the perspective of the National Bank of Romania, as political decision-maker and regulation authority, it is essential to be true to the commitments taken, those regarding  the necessary policies and the economic reforms, the use of available European funds and of course, the implementation of the projects for strategic development' said Cosmin Marinescu.   He also mentioned that the essential objective of financial stability may be met in a sustainable way but only by fair share of the efforts for discipline and adjustment. ' The geopolitical tensions still ahve a significant role, given the conflicts in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. At present, a critical source of risks has become the war of commercial tariffs. The tarifss recently announced by the US have troubled the world economy, and the answer of the partner states, probalby justified, was expected to be a substantial one. Under these conditions we ask ourselves, as regards the principles of free commerce and work division, principles validated scientifically along the whole history of economic thinking, how are we going to regain, if possible the economic common sense or the freedom of commerce,in essence, as obligatory factors for business and prosperity.Obviously, the answer cannot forget the honest attachment of the policy-makers and the public for economic education' added the BCR governor.   In his turn, the chairman of the Authority for Financial Supervision (ASF), Alexandru Petrescu stated that we live in a period where the financial education is not longer considered as luxury, but an unseen infrastructure, foundation for the financial markets.   'If the physical infrastructure of an economy includes roads, bridges and highways, when it comes to virtual infrastructure, if you allow this way of speaking, of the financial markets is represented by education, by knowledge and by the understanding of the economic mechanisms and concepts.Without these, access to financial tools becomes a lottery, and participation on the market is a matter of luck.   Traditionally, financial education has been perceived as a set of knowledge for investors and for those who access financial services. Today, we have to see it differently. Financial education is a matter of trust on the financial markets. Each informed financial decision, adds value to the system, increases transparency and reduces volatility. Trust cannot be imposed through regulations, it is built through education' Alexadru Petrescu said.   At the same time, the executive chairman of the Romanian Association for Banks (ARB), Florin Danescu mentioned that the level of correlation between financial intermediation and individual welfare measured as gross domestic product per capita is 0.8 out of 1, an extremely strong correlation.   'I know it sounds scientific, it is hard to say to people, but how could I teach them about this priority? In my youth, I knew if I was better than the others that I would be better situated as it happened.So, it was a matter of competitionand it was ok, as I was better than the others. Today, we cannot afford this luxury. The way information gets into our lives and makes us take wrong decisions, have wrong perceptions , judge by hate, negative information, adverse perception, the education has become even more important, more important than ever. As the discrepancy between the educated ones and those, I am sorry to say it, the uneducated ones becomes more and more important as the discrepancy between the rich and the poor. And this overlapping of discrepancies may lead in the future, not  a very far away one, to explosions or unwanted things which today we see but hardly understand. As a conclusion,  this is the importance of financial education, specifically financial education in general for a country which is happy, or our people, our Romanians who are happy that we have come to constant development,  that we had growth rythms among the highest in the Union,  that we reached  the European average and even surpassed it at the level of GDP per capita, that we are at the level of Poland and Estonia, that there are countries we left behind, Hungary and so on, a number of six countries' the executive chairman of the Romanian Association for Banks’, Florin Danescu said.