Romania, in common with other EU countries, faces several economic challenges. The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) believes that the recovery responses must not only focus on the immediate period ahead, but also prepare the economy of the future. Romania needs to establish and implement those strategic directions that strengthen economic growth and ensure welfare for citizens.
In 2016, the FIC started an ambitious project called VA URMA which advocates an economic model which would improve the welfare of society and position Romania in the top 10 economies in Europe by the year 2040. Achieving this goal is conditional on a change in behaviour across society and requires significant financial effort.
The adoption at European Union level of the European Ecological Pact (Green Deal), which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, has reshaped the foundations on which the EU economy will develop in the future. The objective is to break the direct link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to develop the “economy of the future”, in 2022 the FIC published an economic growth model for Romania, which takes into account components linked to the objectives of energy transition and digital transformation.
Thus, through the VA URMA model, a picture is outlined of how the Romanian economy will develop in the future, what structural changes will take place, and what growth pillars will be at the heart of it by 2040. Moreover, a fundamental element comprises an estimate of the annual need for investments in the sectors of economic activity which will help Romania pursue a sustainable convergence path in the new coordinates defined by greater attention to environmental aspects (i.e. emissions per unit of GDP created), while also managing to mitigate regional disparities, and stimulate investment, innovation, production and trade.
Moreover, in the framework of the VA URMA model, the multiple positive effects resulting from the coordination of investments can be observed regardless of their sources (public, foreign, and domestic) together with measures aimed at stimulating digitisation, robotics, technology and innovation; improving institutional capacity and state-owned companies; protecting human capital by facilitating access to employment, education and health; and transforming the energy mix in the directions set by the Green Deal at European level, as well as developing energy infrastructure.