Philip Cox: All state structures are drowning private sector
Cramele Recas is one of the biggest domestic players in the wine
industry, owning 700 hectares of vineyard and annually generating
13m-euro turnover. It is a family business in which, besides
British-born Philip Cox and his wife, another 10 Romanian
entrepreneurs invest.
Philip Cox believes Romania has not exited recession
"in the true sense of the word" but nevertheless Recas' performance
lately has been good. "I've even been surprised that recent years'
results have been so good, with growth on the Romanian market and a
better export development. At the same time, the steps taken to cut
financial risk and for technological modernisation have started to
have a positive effect," Cox also said.
The company for this year budgets 13m-euro turnover, flat on 2009.
The wine producer in 2009 registered a slight sales increase
year-on-year.
Asked by ZF what he felt was Romania's biggest problem, he referred
to the bigger number of people that consume against the ones that
produce something.
"All state structures are drowning the private sector. From the
political class that has a very short-term thinking focused on
their groups of interest to the entire state administration that is
inefficient and eats up more money than the private sector produces
(...)," Cox says.