Powerful and Powerless

Executives across Central and Eastern Europe are now more than twice as likely to consider investments in capital expenditure in the next 12 months, than they were in September 2009, according to the fifth edition of the Deloitte Business Sentiment Index (DBSI).

LONDON – The G-8 recently asked the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was created to support the post-communist transitions to democracy and market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, to put its experience to use in Egypt. But which lessons from the Eastern European transition experience are relevant for countries in North Africa and the Middle East?

Exclusive Interview

Dominic Bruynseels, CEO of Banca Comerciala Romana, sat down with Hard Views in an exclusive interview about the bank's strategy and the Romanian economy. In this sense, he stated that "avoiding temptation" was one of the biggest issues the bank had to deal with, particularly in a growing environment. Bruynseels says that, overall, BCR's targeted growth for this year would be less than five percent. Nevertheless, the CEO of the largest bank in Romania underlined that the goal is to become nothing less than the leading savings bank in the country, the leading investment bank in the country, the leading mortgage bank and a leader in the SME market as well.

Exclusive Interview

Raymond Breden, Chairman of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce talked to Hard Views about Romania's tax system. He argues that a “come out with your hands up” approach would not work in Romania. Why? Simply because there is a discrepancy between taxpayers views on paying taxes and the value they perceive as getting from their taxes.