The energy price will remain high for several years from now, followed by a downward trend, following the investments that will be made, said the macroeconomist Laurian Lungu, during the event “European Policies and Business in the New Economy”, organized by EM360 and Sustainable Romania.
“The image that some bureaucrats have of where the economy should go contrasts with reality. In Europe, there have now been issues related to the cost of living, which also existed in the 70s and 80s, and these kinds of constraints will force the implementation of certain policies in the years to come. The increase in the cost of living is practically a big shock, whether we are talking about rising food or energy prices,” Lungu said.
The EU has treated the shock as temporary, he said, according to Agerpres.
“We will probably see in a few years that energy prices will fall, following the investments that will be made, but at least for a long time, we are talking about a few years, prices will be high, which will affect the cost of living,” he added.
On the other hand, people, in this situation, want higher wages and hence this spiral, which will generate an inflationary boom.
“We see countries like Germany reactivating their coal-fired power generation. We are now moving out of inertia, but we need strong leadership that understands the short-term and long-term constraints,” he said.
In his turn, Gabriel Vlăduţ, the vice-president of the National Council of Small and Medium Private Enterprises in Romania, stated during the same event that, unfortunately, our country remains at the tail of most European rankings.
“I am very afraid, seeing what PNRR looks like and what is being done in the operational programs, that we will be far from attracting the funds allocated to Romania and especially that these funds will not work for development and sustainability in Romania,” said the SME representative.
According to him, in terms of innovation, we are not even at the EU average.
“We declare that innovation is important for the country, but we do not even look at it. Unfortunately, we have not seen a training strategy so far in Romania, where the business environment is the beneficiary of this training,” Vlăduţ said.
EM360 Group and Sustainable Romania organized the online event “European Policies and Business in the New Economy”. The New Economy is an initiative initiated by EM360 and Sustainable Romania that supports a permanent dialogue between the Executive and the business environment.