Anca Dragu, president of the National Bank of Moldova, thinks our country has a number of advantages that give the promise of an economic rebound, as it offers very good investment conditions in extraordinarily important and delicate fields. In an interview with Europa Liberă, Dragu said that has all the it needs to become a “regional economic wunderkind”.
According to her, the reforms towards EU accession and the pre-accession funds will enhance economic activity in Moldova, despite “the slightly complicated geopolitical context” at present, “the slightly timid behavior” of Moldovan businesses and the predictable downward trends of remittances.
“This combination of reforms and investment money means, as I said, more intense economic activity, better paying jobs. And this will be seen every year”, Anca Dragu said in a podcast.
She refers to Moldova as a potential “economic wunderkind” also in the context of the role that our country could play in the reconstruction of neighboring Ukraine, which is now at war.
She believes the process of joining the European Union will help the Moldovan economy grow year after year. “With each year passing we will see in statistics how closer and closer we are getting to the states of Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic countries”, said the NBM president.
Anca Dragu says she talks with the Moldovan commercial banks about the need to be prepared for the pre-accession funds and co-finance the Moldovan business. “You know how this European money works: the beneficiary must also chip in a part of the investment, somewhere between 20-30 and maybe even 50%. These funds will come from the banks”.
The NBM president also anticipates a decrease in remittances, which are already in a slight decline, once the Moldovans who work abroad settle there with their entire families.