Ömer Tetik, CEO Banca Transilvania, participated in the conference Romania Government Roundtable: South-East Europe's Next Leap Forward – Day III, within the panel dedicated to the European financial landscape.

The event, organized within the series of Economist Impact events, focused on topics about the resilience of Romania's financial sector and strengthening national prosperity. We reiterate the main ideas here as well, on the BT Blog.

I believe we can still talk about new loans, new investments, new projects. Even in the context of all the challenges around us, there is still room to invest. And, although my name does not betray it, I am Romanian, and I admit that, lately, I have been repeating the same thing almost obsessively:

I'm tired of us complaining about why things didn't go well and why we haven't succeeded in the last, I don't know, 30–35 years. I would like us to focus more on what can go well, in speeches and in the way we talk publicly.

The essential question is: what can we do? Because, if we look objectively, despite all difficulties, Romania is on the verge of becoming energy independent. It is a leader in the production of cereals and corn, with an increase of almost 30% this year . At the European level, Romania has access to water resources, a rare and extremely valuable advantage.


All these are strategic and geopolitical advantages, especially from a logistics and transport perspective, at the moment when – hopefully very soon – the reconstruction of Ukraine will begin. You cannot "jump" over Romania, like in a Monopoly game. You have to go through Romania, to use the resources and companies here. And this should make us change the way we talk to foreign investors.

We complain that they come, that they buy our assets, that they invest. Then we say that "the foreigners are leaving." But meanwhile, Romanian companies and Romanian entrepreneurs also invest abroad. We have today three Romanian car models in the top 10 best-selling cars in Europe. We have many reasons to be proud, not in the sense of self-sufficiency, but of confidence in our own potential and the ability to promote it.

Sometimes we risk criticizing ourselves so much that we end up convincing investors to believe the same negative story about us. Meanwhile, however, entrepreneurs invest, the private sector grows, even under difficult conditions.

We know very well that there is no magic pill: budget deficits and high inflation accumulated over decades cannot be resolved overnight. But, if you open the newspapers or news sites, you notice something interesting: the private sector does not necessarily complain about taxes, but talks about growth plans and new investments. About medium and long-term plans. About the future.

We see clear signals that both the government, in cooperation with the private sector, has plans to bring Romania where it deserves to be. And this despite all the shocks we have been through: pandemic, war on the border, energy crisis – in fact, the second major energy crisis in the last five years.

And yet, Romania has reached almost 80% of the European average GDP per capita (PPS). Cu 10–20 de ani în urmă, nici măcar nu poateam visa la acest lucru. Între timp, România a depășit multe alte economii din regiune, fie ele membre sau nu ale Uniunii Europene, din perspectiva competitivității.

We are on the verge of becoming OECD members. I do not want to seem naive. We manage other people's money and operate in a field based on risk management. But, nevertheless, I sincerely believe that Romania has extraordinary potential.

The fact that we are here, all of us, shows that there is a real commitment to Romania and a clear desire to identify the directions through which we can grow. From what we know and from our investors – whether local, foreign, or multinational – the message is the same: stability, predictability, and medium and long-term plans.

I hope that the current structure and the framework presented including by Mr. Minister, Alexandru Nazare, will consolidate and demonstrate that Romania can offer exactly this:stability and predictability, fără a rămâne țara care oferă siguranța unei economii dezvoltate, dar cu randamente de piață emergentă extrem de ridicate.