Mircea Coşea: "I see the Sovereign Investment Fund only under the authority of the BNR"

The establishment of a sovereign investment fund is extremely welcome, but such a financial instrument should be established only under the authority of the National Bank of Romania, the only institution capable of eliminating political interests and pressures, claims university professor Dr. Mircea Coşea, expert in economy.

Mircea Coşea told us: "I do not accept that this fund is established on political grounds or that it is subordinated to the Government. I see the Sovereign Investment Fund only under the authority of the NBR, because in the central bank there is the possibility of eliminating political actions and political pressures. We have a model for this, the Norwegian model, which we should emulate if we want to make such a fund. Let's not make funds available to the Government, Parliament or the Government. I don't believe in such a thing. Romania is too politicized to ensure a sovereign investment fund the way to bring fair long-term and sustainable benefits".

His lordship showed that at the moment he does not see such a fund feasible in our country, because its establishment and operation "presupposes several things that Romania does not have at the moment".

The economic expert mentioned: "First of all, it presupposes the existence of an economy that performs and that is freed from any barrier of deficit, of decreases, of all kinds of things related to the functionality of an economy. Romania's economy cannot have a sovereign fund for the time being because it does not work. A sovereign fund is based on the existence of means procured or financed through certain sources, and the main source is the economic potential of the country that governs it. To this can be added the participation of some private investors, participations in investments made in other areas, the surplus of some pension funds, things that for now in Romania are illusory".

He states that he does not think it is possible for such a fund to be fed from the profits of state-owned energy companies and royalties for extracting natural gas from the Black Sea, "because if there is a performance of a company with majority state capital, the main direction that energy profits should have would be reinvestment in the modernization of these societies".

Mircea Coşea told us: All companies with majority state capital in the national energy system are downgraded in terms of the age of the equipment. We urgently need investment in their modernization. I believe that the respective profit should be left to the discretion of the companies that have very well developed investment plans in the system and modernization".

His lordship states that a sovereign investment fund has much wider horizons, being used according to the decisions of a board that analyzes very well where it can be invested, with what benefit or with what moral profit. The economic expert showed that the sovereign investment funds operating today in the world economies are either profit-based, that is, investments for profit, or investments on aid programs based on programs of the United Nations for the protection of the environment or for solving the problems that have certain states or certain areas as a result of some catastrophes.