Emilian Radu, 56, the first Romanian partner of a Big Fourconsulting firm, currently strategic consultant withPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), says the state and banks have thepower to solve problems in the economy, but that there is a crisispsychosis and that things are currently exacerbated.
"Because companies operate within a state-regulatedmacroeconomic system, the latter bears a significant responsibilityto find solutions to get out of the crisis. That is why, under thecurrent circumstances, we have to start from government policies,"Radu told ZIARUL FINANCIAR in an interview.
He also says banks should become actively involved in finding away out of the crisis. Banks, which are more educated than theother economic operators, responded in a completely unprofessionalway when the crisis started, by raising interest rates and byalienating traditional clients - companies and the population."Banks are morally responsible for the current crisis because theyacted completely unprofessionally. They suffocated the economy, andnow have to make the first move," Radu said.
Banks have, however, started to return to normal by turningtowards their traditional clients again, he says. Under thecircumstances, the volume of non-governmental lending (loansgranted to the population and to companies) has remained steady ataround 47 billion euros, after it had gone down by over 6 billioneuros from October until June 2008.
The NBR (National Bank of Romania), on the other hand, respondedprudently to the current crisis. "I argued that there was a needfor a shock decrease, by 2-3%, of the monetary policy interest rateand for a more direct procedure when it comes to reducing theminimum mandatory reserves," said Radu, adding that on the plusside, the NBR has managed to maintain exchange rate stability. Thecentral bank has cut its official exchange rate by 2.25% since thebeginning of this year, but in several consecutive steps.
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