Nearly 30% of Romania’s population is still at risk of poverty, and people need to be helped to join others who have benefited from the country’s spectacular growth in recent years, said Cristian Nacu, Senior Country Officer for Romania and Moldova at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Monday.

“I don’t feel comfortable with the, how to say, pessimistic tone that we have seen in recent months, because, let’s not forget, Romania’s economy has performed extraordinarily in the last 20 years. We have the fastest pace of convergence. All we have to do is look at what we have left behind, because there is a segment of the population, we have calculated that almost 30% of the population is still at risk of poverty, which we must aim to bring together with the others who have benefited from this spectacular growth in recent years. A growth of almost 4% on average over 20 years is unheard of. I don’t think there are many countries in the world that can boast of such growth. But it has not been done equally. There is still a large part of the population, we have over 30% of the population living in rural areas. There are still segments of the population that have been neglected or that have not developed at the same speed. This is the only thing we have to do and the goal The World Bank Group, which was also reflected in September last year when we approved the next strategy for the next 5 years, is that together with the Government, together with the programs established by the European Union, we will achieve this priority for Romania”, said Cristian Nacu, according to Agerpres.

“The majority of IFC financing is directed to Romania, to the banking sector, and my presence here today is all the more relevant, because two-thirds of our portfolio is to banks and non-banking financial institutions. The IFC portfolio in Romania is the ninth in the world, one of the largest in IFC, 2.2 billion dollars. And most of this financing is green financing, climate financing, so we are also one of the largest providers of climate financing”, explained Cristian Nacu.

“We have a study done last year, if I’m not mistaken, through which we calculated what Romania needs to reach the net zero target in 2050. The need is absolutely fascinating, over 350 billion dollars needed to invest in the Romanian economy to achieve the net zero goal in 2050. Of these 350 billion, only a third can come from public funding, whether state or European. The rest will have to be attracted from the private sector. So, through financial and banking institutions, this funding will have to reach the real sector, in such a way that those changes that lead to achieving the net zero goal are produced. So, the need for funding is still huge. What we lack or what we want to have is stability, reform, so that the economy is viable in the future,” Cristian Nacu also declared.