Raising capital spending was among this year's successful policies, Expert-Grup

The think-tank Expert-Grup has highlighted the Government's policy to raise the amount of capital spending as one of the successful economic policies in 2012, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Capital spending has been rising the third year in a row. While in 2010 the share of capital spending was 14.5% of the total budget spending, in 2012 it may exceed 20%”, said expert Dumitru Budeanschi, co-author of Expert-Grup's 'economic radiography' of the year 2012. According to the expert, the rise in capital spending has contributed to a change in the budget structure that facilitates the development of the infrastructure of public services; it also helped the budget become more sustainable. Spending projected this year in respect of transport, roads, communication and informatics rose as high as 70% on last year, exemplified Budeanschi. “It was construction works financed from public sources that played an important role in ensuring growth in the construction sector this year. Moreover, investment efficiency also rose this year. We should remark that the percentage of bad roads has been decreasing”. The expert added that the rise in capital spending is a signal for foreign as well as local businesses to participate in infrastructure projects funded by the government. For this to happen, Expert-Grup is recommending the authorities to improve the business climate and create favorable conditions for all businesses. Expert Ana Popa, another co-author, observed that the recent interventions to improve investment conditions were rather an example of 'manual piloting', meaning that those were interventions in some particular cases. “Of course, strategic investors are important, but smaller businesses that create jobs are important as well, and they also need normal conditions for work”.