The financial and economic challenges faced by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were at the center of discussions at the Euromoney forum, which is currently being held in Vienna. More than 1,000 representatives of the region’s central banks and governments, as well as business representatives or officials of the European Commission, participate in the discussions.

Romania was represented by a number of officials at the level of speakers and/or moderators of several discussion sessions, although among the Romanian participants there are managers of pension funds, members of the CA of the BNR, energy businessmen, and commercial bankers.

On the first day of the conference, Stefan Nanu, director of the treasury’s finance department, spoke about the issuance of the first Romanian green bonds, saying that previous discussions had shown a strong appetite for this type of bond.

Dan Bucha, Unicredit’s Chief Economist in the Central and Eastern Europe region, spoke about the difficult year 2024 (in which elections will be held in several countries of the region, in particular in Romania) in terms of economic growth, the return of consumption. , in conditions of inflation and with a budget deficit that needs to be adjusted.

As expected, the focus of discussions on the first day of the forum was inflation, as well as economic growth and problems related to the national budgets of the member states of the forum.

On the first day of the forum, the Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia, Mirza Gelashvili, spoke about the reforms initiated in his country, which led to 5% economic growth. “Of course, low tax rates, as well as ‘smart spending’ of taxes collected from companies and citizens, also contributed to the growth of the economy,” he said.

Hrvoje Bujanovic, state secretary of Croatia’s Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, said that in his country’s case, the earthquakes that occurred and problems in global supply chains reduced GDP growth to 3 percent. According to a Croatian official, Croatia’s restrictive fiscal policy has prevented an economic downturn of even greater magnitude.

Another expected speaker was State Secretary for Macroeconomic and International Affairs of the Ministry of Finance of Hungary Tibor Toth, especially since Hungary will preside over the EC in the second half of the year. Toth talked about the challenges his country faces due to high energy prices and inflation. He acknowledged that there are differences between the medium and long-term vision of Hungary and other European countries, but clarified that such points of view can be reconciled through discussions and negotiations. “Our interest is to increase the role and power of Europe in front of our economic competitors, and mainly I mean the US and China,” he said. “We are the only sovereign that issues green bonds in 4 different currencies,” the Hungarian official added.

Discussions will continue on Wednesday with sessions on central bank governors, the green transition and capital markets.