Romania is taking the brakes off of infrastructure investments for the state’s mandatory pension funds, allowing them to invest some €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in projects starting in February, Romania Insider reports.
The seven companies that manage the private pension funds (Pillar II) will be allowed to invest up to 15 percent of their assets in infrastructure projects such as highways, thanks to legislation that went into effect last year. The Pillar II funds have roughly €13 billion ($14 billion) of assets under management.
As part of the regulations, they will also be allowed to invest up to 10 percent of their assets in private companies, as opposed to public companies.
According to Reuters, Romania has some of the poorest infrastructure in the European Union.
An existing fiscal decree that forces pension funds to raise their share capital by $899 million and enables Romanians to withdraw from pension funds after contributing