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Romania pays 0.85% of the GDP for special pensions, and in two to three years we may reach up to 1.5% of the GDP, Eugen Radulescu, head of the Financial Stability Directorate of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) stated on Wednesday, told Agerpres.
"Special pensions amount to 0.85% of the GDP. Only part of them are called special pensions, however, the rest are called service pensions. I think we can also call them gratitude pensions or gratitude contributions. We don't call them special pensions. But they are still the same, they are special pensions, as far as they do not observe any of the three criteria that all the rest of us mortals have: contribution period, retirement age and pension calculation method, so that, if this year we are talking about 0.85% of the GDP in the account of special pensions, in two to three years we may reach up to 1.5% and then it will be increasingly difficult to show that they are not only an unacceptable budget expense, but unbearable, unsustainable," said Eugen Radulescu, at the presentation of the works "Stabilitate financiara. Lucrari selectate" and "Financial stability. Selected works," published in the "The Library of the National Bank of Romania - 140th Anniversary" Collection.
He also mentioned that this year Romania must increase military spending from 2% of GDP to 2.5%.
Eugen Radulescu also spoke about the profitability of banks and emphasized that the approaches asking for the banks to be kicked out of the country because they "steal our money" are "frozen in a project from 40 years ago" and that they are generated by the fact that interest rates for credits are higher in Romania than in the Western countries.
"If we look at the latest figures, we will see that the average rate of return on capital in the banking system is well below the average rate of return on capital in the national economy," stated Eugen Radulescu.
