The management of the Bucharest Stock Exchange believes that the capitalisation of this market could reach 35bn euros by 2010, that is over twice its current level.
The officials made this estimate on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the reopening of the main stock market in Romania.
"The weight of the stock market capitalisation in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 22-23% at the moment, an indicator that compares to the other countries in the region, and this reassures us that we are on the right track as regards the continued development of the market," Sergiu Oprescu, the chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange said.
The Stock Exchange capitalisation reached record highs this year, with the value of the transactions on the market following suit. The transfers on the Bucharest Stock Exchange this year amounted to 2bn euros, up from 0.67bn euros last year.
The main actors on the capital market are saying that although the Bucharest Stock Exchange has undoubtedly evolved a great deal over the last decade, both in terms of liquidity and in terms of its value, this is not true for the number of issuers listed on the market.
The most important decision-makers on the capital market believe the Bucharest Stock Exchange can only develop if there is the political will to do so.
"The stock market is the ultimate form of expression for an economic democracy. It can ensure economic development with the lowest inflationary impact. Considering all governments from 1993 onwards have showed reluctance towards the capital market, I am making a plea to the current government. As it committed itself through the governing programme, it has to put the business environment first and show more consideration to the capital market in this context. Six months on from the launch of the ''A strong market'' programme, we see that many of the steps included therein have not been adopted," specified Varujan Vosganian, the chairman of the Budget-Finance Committee of the Senate.
Vosganian added that by choosing not to privatise Banca Comeciala Romana (BCR), the leading bank in the system, through the capital market, the state missed yet another opportunity to help the Romanian stock market.
"I don''t know if there are benefits for the Government (in it), but it surely is a loss for the Romanian economy," Vosganian says.
Other officials in their turn feel the capital market will only be able to continue to develop if the government shows it is truly interested in the fate of the Romanian stock exchange.
"The capital market can only develop if there is a political will in this regard. We need the desire not to forget about the capital market. What happened two years ago and how the residual shares in BRD were sold, I said that it couldn''t happen again. And it did, though, this year in the case of the privatisation of the banks," says Gratiela Iordache, vice-chairperson of the Budget-Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
catalin.ciocan@zf.ro
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