English Version - United Nations Development Programme Romania

f) Savings and investing are discouraged. During the transition period, the economic capacity
of ensuring a capital accumulation rate high enough to support the restructuring and reforms along the
lines of efficiency and competitiveness was extremely low and varied considerably. The ratio between the
savings rate and public spending has been sinking continuously, from over 24% in 1991 to less than 10%
in 1998, which is mostly due to a decrease in savings and in the privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
Gross generation of fixed capital The average investment rate, represented as gross generation of
fixed capital in the GDP (the accumulation rate) is very low, with large variations from year to year
for an economy subjected to massive restructuring, a situation that also limits investments in
environment protection. Accordingly, net investments are also reduced, due to inefficient structural
changes. Compared to 1989, the volume of net investments in 1997 was 52.8%.
Table 2.5
Rate of FCGA in GDP, 1990-1998 (%)
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
19.8 14.4 19.2 17.9 20.3 21.4 23.1 22.0 18.1
Source: The National Commission for Statistics, 1998
g) Health and durability of the economy also depend on the quantity of resources that can be
invested in the protection of the environment. In Romania, in 1997, total spending on the protection of the
environment was of lei 3,661,575 billion, which is 1% of the GDP, whereas in the developed countries
this proportion is almost twice as much. These spendings on various activities are presented in table 2.6.
During the last few years the spending for environment protection followed a downward trend, in direct
relation with the decline in investment.
The evolution of the main macro-economic aggregates has been in a permanent deadlock. The
various mechanisms involved in the process were insufficiently co-ordinated and approved, which caused
negative repercussions. Therefore, the economic reform became costly, with regard to the consumption of
resources and to the compliance of production to market demand; the burden of the structural heritage -
especially in industry - severely increased the cost of transition. From a human development perspective,
the evolution of the economy was unsustainable, inflationary, impoverishing and showed a high degree of
vulnerability, which is still growing for a significant part of the population.
Table 2.6
Environment protection spending according to activity sectors in 1997
Activity sectors
Total
Pollution
prevention
and fighting
Natural
environment
protection
Research,
development,
education
General
environment
management
Total: 3,661,575 3,236,220 254,479 79,818 88,040
Agriculture 57,994 16,431 41,244 15 304
Forestry 51,979 147 51,776 53 3
Extractive industry 267,465 181,551 44,094 35,734 6,086
Processing industry 936,270 900,811 1,841 6,433 27,185
Waste recycling 232,239 232,150 4 20 65
Thermal and electric energy,
natural gas industry 1,473,967 1,391,769 68,583 6,333 7,282
Transports 69,430 62,473 1,893 4,302 762
Public administration 108,098 25,060 33,867 3,319 45,852
Waste collection and
elimination, scavenging 361,928 361,854 50 22 2
Scientific research 32,954 8,584 3,436 20,634 300
Other sectors 69,251 55,390 10,709 2,953 199
Source: the Romanian Environment Report, 1998 Edition; National Commission for Statistics.
Moreover, this negative development has caused a marginalisation of the Romanian economy in
the European context, which leaves it in a critical situation. In the absence of a new concept and of a
short, medium, and long-term global strategy, Romania is moving away from the aims of sustainable
development.
2.4 Conservation of energy resources
18