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The wrong approach to cancelling special retirement plans

Published at: 22-12-2019

Posted on: December 22nd, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

A good-quality change management requires thorough planning of change, dosage and good communication, assessment of possible sources of resistance and ways to mitigate it and why not, compromise. Excellent ideas may get buried by a massive negative reaction from those affected. At the end of the day, any change involves humans and most humans abhor […]

Populist decisions are pushing borrowing costs up, not S&P

Published at: 13-12-2019

Posted on: December 13th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

The decision by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Romania’s credit-rating outlook from stable to negative seems to have come as a surprise. I believe that the agency’s explanation was sufficiently clear to exclude any speculations: the large spending deviations of the former government will be difficult to correct by the current government […]

Happy anniversary Romania! Farewell Bessarabia.

Published at: 01-12-2019

Posted on: December 1st, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

1918 was a watershed moment for Romania and will remain an exceptional year in its history. The stars aligned into a great conjunction that not even the most upbeat dared to dream of. Historian Lucian Boia noticed that the outbreak of World War I confronted Romanian politicians with a huge dilemma: join the Triple Entente […]

Sweep it from under the carpet

Published at: 23-11-2019

Posted on: November 23rd, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

To rise up and go it alone against the establishment is not an easily made decision. Despite corporate managers and governments urging transparency, ethical behaviour or the flagging of any unfair or outrageous behaviours, the truth is that, more often than not, such calls are mere publicity stunts. On more than one occasion did such […]

Consumers don’t predict, but compound recession

Published at: 17-11-2019

Posted on: November 17th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

One of the “compelling” arguments that those who refute the danger of the economy slowing down and sliding towards recession put forward is the Romanian consumers` appetite which shows no sign of abating. And why would it while consumer sentiment is still running high as the graph below illustrates. Look harder however, and a gloomier […]

Central banks buy hundreds of tons of gold. What about us?

Published at: 23-08-2019

Posted on: August 23rd, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

Bloomberg is signaling the fact that in the first six months of the year countries all over the world have bought over 370 tons of gold, pushing the demand for the precious metal to a three-month high. This has caused gold price to climb to the highest level in the last six years. The Russian […]

70 percent of Romania’s military equipment dates back to the Soviet era

Published at: 05-08-2019

Posted on: August 5th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

This is the second part of my talk with retired lieutenant general Alexandru Grumaz. RC: Given the competition for army digitization, what should Romania`s endowment strategy look like? AG: We should have a very clear understanding of what our specific needs are based first and foremost on the national interest, military doctrine and the assessment of […]

The US-Russia arms control architecture risks collapse

Published at: 29-07-2019

Posted on: July 29th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

I am talking this week with retired lieutenant general Alexandru Grumaz*, who throughout his professional career held senior positions within the Ministry of National Defense, as head of the Department of Defense Resource Management, director of the Integrated Defense Planning Directorate or Arms Inspector. He is currently running the Security Analysis and Studies Center. This […]

Forget about positive real interest rates!

Published at: 05-07-2019

Posted on: July 5th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

In a recent public intervention at the start of its new term, the Romanian Governor of the Central Bank, Mugur Isarescu, gave us some interesting insights into the local FX and money market developments. Practicing what he calls “FX intervention using moral suasion”, he warned that the NBR will not allow the Romanian local currency […]

The European Chief Prosecutor saga, the euro area saga

Published at: 05-04-2019

Posted on: April 5th, 2019 by RaduC No Comments

The saga of appointing a European Chief Prosecutor goes on, but the appointment process seems to have hit a wall. Neither the European Parliament, nor the Council of the EU is willing to give up on their candidate. The two institutions are the two European co-legislators whose work is underpinned by the principle of co-decision […]
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