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Although she believes that consolidation is advisable in the detriment of extension in times of crisis, Ana Maria Mihaescu, chief of IFC’s mission in Romania, argues that the need for investment remains high, especially in infrastructure and agriculture.
RBT: Before the credit crunch, public-private partnerships were seen as a solution for the development of transport infrastructure in Romania, and a number of such partnerships are already about to be started. Will IFC provide financing to a PPP aimed at building a highway or, why not, complete the Bucharest-Danube canal?
A.M.: If there is a contract signed, yes. It would be wrong of IFC to support one consortium participating in a bid for a PPP in detriment to other bidders. In the transport infrastructure field, PPP projects are in the stage of pre-bid and we have contacts with several consortia, with which we have also signed letters of confidentiality. If one or more of these consortia win the bidding for concessions and the technical data shows that the project is efficient, sure we can move forward with the negotiations and eventually offer funding. Financing infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships is one of the priorities of our short-term strategy.
RBT: Which are other fields are considered short-term priorities and what is the total sum we are talking about?
A.M.: In the last 12 years, 17 regional crises have affected 30 states. Experience of those periods of regional crisis, none as this one’s wide scope, says that short-term liquidity is the first funding the market needs. Therefore we support the financial sector. In fact, the last two years, our portfolio was distributed as follows: 65-67% in the financial sector and the rest of the real sector, meaning transport, logistics, manufacturing industry and health. As for volume, we granted annually 120-150 million dollars, but we also had top years when we financed 200 million. From July 2008 to July 2009, taking into account the projects that we are already involved in, I think we will again reach the 200 million mark, as high liquidity is a must.
