mugur isarescu : the transatlantic renaissance – romania as a faithful partner and ambitious player opening speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference “ the transatlantic renaissance : romania as a faithful partner and ambitious player ”, bucharest, 9 december 2013. * * * prime minister ponta, mr. kennedy, your excellences, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for the national bank of romania, and an honor for me and the board members, to welcome such a distinguished audience. i salute the presence of victor ponta, prime minister of romania, who will be the keynote speaker today and that of craig kennedy, the president of german marshall fund of the united states. allow me to greet their excellences, members of the diplomatic corps, as well as the other notable guests who represent an important array of successful domains of activity. a special welcome to mircea geoana, president of aspen institute romania and his team of young, talented and hardworking professionals. today ’ s gathering has a challenging topic : “ the transatlantic renaissance : romania as a faithful partner and ambitious player ”. here, at the national bank of romania, we take pride in having always been a forum for debating, in an open and profound manner, the themes and trends defining our age. thus, it is the perfect venue to host such a conference as this one, which encourages individuals to reflect on ideals and ideas that define good society through leadership, dialogue, entrepreneurship and regional stability. i have read two papers prepared by aspen institute and the german marshall fund : the report “ dialogues on the national interest. recommendations of public policies ” and the program “ east - west gateway ”. they generate the object of the forthcoming debates. allow me to make some remarks regarding the national interest and the transformations within the financial sector that are currently taking place in europe. the national interest goes beyond its economic dimension, although it is also true that the smooth functioning of the economy is not only an objective per se, but also a means to achieve the other objectives subordinated to the national interest. as any other european central bank we are focused on price and financial stability. obviously, monetary and financial stability is an essential ingredient of economic performance. this is all the more relevant for a catching - up economy, such as romania. on the one hand, progress towards convergence is impossible to imagine without capital accumulation from local and external sources alike, and it cannot be achieved in the absence of a

proportion of what it needs, particularly in areas where the resources or inputs needed for production are widely available across the country. this thought process shaped our decision to impose the restriction on access to forex for 41 items that can be produced in nigeria. 24. there has been considerable discourse particularly on whether the restriction on access to foreign exchange for 41 items is driving local production, with some nay - sayers stating that it has constrained economy. productivity based on and our growth internal in the research conducted at the central bank of nigeria, there is strong support that the recovery of our economy from the recession may have been much weaker or even negative, without the implementation of the restriction on 41 items. our research supports the conclusion that the combination of the restriction on 41 items along with other measures imposed by the fiscal and monetary authorities has helped to promote the recovery. any attempt to reverse the course of this actions may have untold consequences on the growth trajectory of our economy particularly in our push to diversify and restructure our economy. in fact, recommendations are being made to the cbn that the list of 41 items be expanded to include other additional items that can be locally produced. 25. second, many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this policy to venture into the domestic production of the restricted items with remarkable successes and great positive impact on employment. the dramatic decline in our import bill and the increase in domestic production of these items attest to the efficacy of this policy. noticeable declines were steadily recorded in our monthly food import bill from us $ 665. 4 million in january 2015 to us $ 160. 4 million as at october 2018 ; a cumulative fall of 75. 9 percent and an implied savings of over us $ 21 billion on food imports alone over that period. most evident were the 97. 3 percent cumulative reduction in monthly rice import bills, 99. 6 percent in fish, 81. 3 percent in milk, 63. 7 percent in sugar, and 60. 5 percent in wheat. we are glad with the accomplishments recorded so far. accordingly, this policy is expected to continue with vigor until the underlying imbalances within the nigerian economy have been fully resolved ; 26. development finance : in continued recognition of our role as an agent of development and aimed at ensuring self - sufficiency to reduce nigeria ’ s excessive dependence on imports, the cbn invigorated its development finance activities. we have maintained a particular focus on supporting farmers, entrepreneurs as well as small and medium scale businesses, through our various intervention