* The Ministry of Finance Official says: "Investors are waiting for Romanians to access the European market"
* Florin Cîţu: "The number of investors is small"
Romania is attractive for investors, and some of its benefits include the speed at which it has passed anti-crisis measures, says Bogdan Drăgoi, secretary of state in the Ministry of Public Finance.
"Romania is one of the countries which was the fastest to implement reforms", Drăgoi said yesterday at a conference at the NBR. He said that Romania has already issued two successful Eurobonds issues, on the foreign markets, and that the MTN (ed. note: medium term notes) program is being "upgraded" for the American market. "Investors are waiting for Romania to access the American market", Bogdan Drăgoi said.
The government recently approved a program for an issuance of MTNs on the international market with a 3-year maturity and a maximum amount of 7 billion Euros. In the first issuance of the program, the Ministry of Finance raised 1.5 billion Euros in the beginning of July, by selling 5-year bonds with a coupon of 5.29%.
Still, the secretary of state concedes that investor appetite for buying the "product" called Romania has changed: "Investors have become a bit more selective".
A bit more cautious, economist Florin Cîţu considers that the number of investors interested in Romania is low.
"There are a few investors with a perception like this (ed. note: that Romania is attractive for investors), but they are very few", said Florin Cîţu, and he added: "Interest is low because of the problems that investors have at home, and because of the unpredictability of the Romanian tax regime".
If issuing bonds on the foreign markets happens less frequently, once every five years, for instance, it"s alright. The problems appears when they are done repeatedly".
Accor
