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Romania GOALS FOR THE 1990s
According to long-standing PCR predictions, by 1990
Romania was
to have attained the status of a "medium-developed
country," and by
the year 2000, it was to have become a multilaterally
developed
socialist country. By the end of the century, according to
Ceausescu's vision, the country would have an
overwhelmingly
industrial economy, employing a well-trained, highly
skilled work
force in technologically advanced branches, such as
electronics,
computers, and aeronautics. The "new agrarian revolution"
would
have made agriculture more productive by applying the
latest
scientific advances and better utilizing available
resources.
As late as 1989, Ceausescu was confidently predicting
that
during the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1991-95) the energy
problem would
be completely resolved. The plan would focus on
modernizing
metallurgy, chemistry, mining, oil production, and raw
material
processing. Foreign trade would receive greater emphasis,
and
Romania would remain an active member of Comecon. The rate
of
accumulation and investment in the economy would remain
among the
world's highest, hovering around one-third of gross
national
product. Achieving these goals would mean a continuation
of
consumer sacrifice and no immediate improvement in the
standard of
living.
* * *
Several excellent English-language publications dealing
with
the Romanian economy appeared in the 1980s. Michael
Shafir's
Romania: Politics, Economics, and Society and
William E.
Crowther's The Political Economy of Romanian
Socialism
describe the evolution, structure, and performance of the
economy
in the twentieth century. Daniel N. Nelson's Romanian
Politics
in the Ceausescu Era provides insight into the
relationship
between the people and the political and economic
institutions that
control their lives. Richard F. Staar's fifth edition of
Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe summarizes the
administrative changes of the 1970s and 1980s. The East
European
Economic Handbook, whose main contributor is Alan H.
Smith,
presents comprehensive statistical information and
analysis of all
aspects of the economy. Romania, 40 Years
(1944-1984),
edited by Vlad Georgescu, contains excellent essays by
Paul Gafton
and Serban Orescu on the performance of Romanian industry
and
agriculture since World War II. The Radio Free Europe
Research publication is an indispensable source for
the most
current information and analysis of the economic situation
in
Romania. For readers of Romanian, Anuarul Statistic al
Republicii Socialiste Romānia, published by the
Central
Statistical Directorate in Bucharest, is a useful
reference work.
(For further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1989
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