see also:
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Romania is located in Central Europe and, as a country, is focused on restructuring and privatizing large state-owned enterprises to ensure sustained economic growth. It is a medium sized country, at the crossroads of Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkan states.
Romania offers investors the second largest market in Central Europe with almost 23 million domestic consumers and a skilled labor force, which is well trained in engineering and technology and available at competitive wage rates.
The state legislation in place contains several concrete provisions meant to offer foreign investors a wide range of possibilities for investment. Romania welcomes investment from overseas as it is regarded as a major element in the economic growth plan for the country.
Romanian Development Agency
7 Maghero Blvd
Bucharest
Romania
tel: +401 312 28 86
fax: +401 315 46 98
Bucharest is the capital and largest city in Romania with a population of around 2.5 million. It is the country’s chief industrial center and the siting of the main national university.
Read more: Geopolitical Journey, Part 3: Romania | STRATFOR
see also Carpathian Mountains - dividing Europe from Russia
Read more: Geopolitical Journey, Part 2: Borderlands | STRATFOR
see also Carpathian Mountains - dividing Europe from Russia
see also: European Union and European Union - enlargement
"Romanians believed their redemption lay with the West’s multilateral organizations. If they were permitted to join NATO and especially the European Union, their national security needs would be taken care of along with their economic needs"....Read more: Geopolitical Journey, Part 3: Romania | STRATFOR
"As for the European Union, there is a deep structural tension in the system. The main European economic power is Germany. It is also the world’s second-largest exporter. Its economy is built around exporting. For a country like Romania, economic development requires that it take advantage of its wage advantage. Lower wages allow developing countries to develop their economy through exports. But Europe is dominated by an export superpower. Unlike the postwar world, where the United States absorbed the imports of Germany and Japan without needing to compete with them, Germany remains an exporting country exporting into Romania and leaving precious little room for Romania to develop its economy.
"At this stage of its development, Romania should be running a trade surplus, particularly with Germany, but it is not. In 2007, it exported about $40 billion worth of goods and imported about $70 billion. In 2009, it exported the same $40 billion but cut imports to only $54 billion (still a negative). Forty percent of its trade is with Germany, France and Italy, its major EU partners. But it is Germany where the major problem is. And this problem is compounded by the fact that a good part of Romania’s exports to Germany are from German-owned firms operating in Romania.
"During the period of relative prosperity in Europe from 1991 to 2008, the structural reality of the EU was hidden under a rising tide. In 2008 the tide went out, revealing the structural reality. It is not clear when the tide of prosperity will come rolling back in. In the meantime, while the German economy is growing again, Romania’s is not. Because it exists in a system where the main engine is an exporter, and the exporter dominates the process of setting rules, it is difficult to see how Romania can take advantage of its greatest asset — a skilled workforce prepared to work for lower wages.
"Add to this the regulatory question. Romania is a developing country. Europe’s regulations are drawn with a focus on the highly developed countries
Read more: Geopolitical Journey, Part 3: Romania | STRATFOR
"The government proposed wage cuts of 25% and pension cuts of 15% last July in order to reduce the country's budget deficit. Romania's economy shrank more than 7% in 2009 and it needed an IMF bail-out in order to meet its wage bill. It says it needs to implement new austerity measures to qualify for further instalments of the 20bn-euro IMF loan..." Read more from BBC here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10162176
"The government proposed wage cuts of 25% and pension cuts of 15% in July in order to reduce the country's budget deficit. Romania's economy shrunk more than 7% in 2009 and it needed an IMF bail-out in order to meet its wage bill. It says it needs to implement new austerity measures to qualify for the next instalment of the 20bn-euro ($25bn; £17bn) IMF loan. Angry protests have greeted the cuts and Interior Minister Vasile Blaga resigned after thousands of police officers went on strike over the 25% pay cut." read more here: BBC.com
"some of Europe's harshest austerity policies, including a 25 percent pay cut for public sector workers"
Romania looks worse. As in the Baltic countries, it has a big current account deficit, but it has predominantly been financed with foreign bank loans, which are now drying up, and its budget deficit of some 3 percent of GDP is excessive. So far, its salvation has been its floating exchange rate and an independent central bank that pursues a strict monetary policy, but Romania's growth will suffer.
Excellent source of historical information about a country; "The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.