Sovereign Development and Investment Fund to be managed by Finance Ministry

The Sovereign Development and Investment Fund will be managed by the Ministry of Finance, and ministries who have managed the fund companies so far, will retain certain coordination prerogatives, Energy Minister Toma Petcu said in a conference quoted by Agerpress.

"Through the governing programme, one of the strategic objectives is the sovereign investment fund, important for Romania's economic development, which will be an economic development engine. In my opinion, all companies, not just in the field of energy, because we are talking about a general investment fund, all profitable companies that have strong capitalization in any field should be in this fund, depending on the communication we will have with the European Commission and based on the decisions regarding competition, so as not to cause problems," the minister said.

He pointed out that during the Friday's Government meeting, the fund was introduced for the first time, following that the Government ask the European Commission's opinion on this project.

"The sovereign fund, because it is an investment fund, must be with the Ministry of Finance, as the Ministry of Finance must manage this money. All the assets, the entire Romanian state patrimony, are generally managed by the Ministry of Finance, and consequently, it should be with the Ministry of Finance," Petcu answered, when asked who will manage the fund.

At the same time, he highlighted that the relevant ministries will continue to have certain competencies in company coordination.

The bill on the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund (FSDI) will be drafted by September and sent to Parliament to be adopted, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said on Friday.

In his turn, Economy Minister Mihai Fifor said that the FSDI is "the core element" of the 2017 - 2020 ruling programme.

"This fund is an economic boost measure through which, after the capital from the domestic and international market is drawn, financing sources will be set up for the profitable, sustainable investment projects, that will result into a leverage effect in the economy, leading to development, in parallel with growth in budget revenues. The idea of creating the fund was also agreed by the European and international bodies," Fifor added.

According to him, the FSDI will be a single shareholder company - the Romanian state, throughout its functioning.

"The aim of the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund is to finance, from own sources and funds drawn, profitable and sustainable investment projects in various economic sectors. Financing will come from revenues obtained from dividends cashed from the fund's companies, from those resulted from operations with own financial instruments and those issued by other entities, from incomes coming from the sale pf stock from its own portfolio, from loans - bond issues included - and other sources," Fifor specified.