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| - Romania's liberal government on Wednesday put forward ambitious plans to relaunch the economy, hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic, promising thousands of kilometres (miles) of highway and hundreds of new hospitals and schools. The government has earmarked 100 billion euros ($112 billion) to be spent until 2030 to "rebuild Romania" on "durable pillars", said Prime Minister Ludovic Orban ahead of chairing a cabinet meeting. His comments mirrored those of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who on Tuesday pledged to deliver an "infrastructure revolution" to help his country build its way out of the crisis though he gave few details. In Romania, more than half of the amount will go into infrastructure to build 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of highway and modernise the country's frail railway, as well as build new hospitals and schools, according to the government plan. The EU member of 20 million people currently has 823 kilometres (511 miles) of highway, according to the latest Eurostat data, discouraging investors and prompting protests across the country last year. In 2014, the government promised to build four regional hospitals, partly financed with EU funds, but their construction was then pushed back to 2022. Earlier this week, Romania announced it would maintain coronavirus-related restrictions, such as forbidding indoor restaurant spaces to re-open, as the country has seen a spike in the number of infections, recently counting between 300 and 400 daily new cases. Romania has reported 27,296 cases so far and 1,667 deaths. But with its eyes on local and legislative elections scheduled to take place by the end of the year, the liberal government also pledged to help small and medium enterprises, with 1.5 million people having been placed in partial unemployment at the height of the coronavirus crisis. One of the EU's poorest countries, Romania had recorded strong growth in recent years with a peak of 7 percent in 2017. But analysts have warned that the growth is based largely on consumption, an economic model that they believe will not last. In the first quarter, Romania registered a 0.3 percent increase in its gross domestic product, but the government fears a collapse of 14.4 percent in the second. As for the entire year, EU forecasts point to a contraction of 6 percent and a public deficit of 9 percent. mr-ii/jza/jh
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