Throughout their activity, the authors have published hundreds of articles on financial and banking topics, articles which were well received and widely recognised as they were printed both in Romanian and English in various editions of many publications such as the magazine Profit (Chisinau), BNE IntelliNews (London), review of the National Bank of Romania on Law and Finance, review Historia (Romania), review Magazin Istoric (Romania), Review Limba Romana (Moldova), Emerging Europe (London), Review of Public Finance and Accounting (Romania), Financial Newspaper (Romania) etc.

The book "Finance and Current Monetary Issues" is a collection of authors’ articles published by the above-mentioned publications, especially during the last 5 years. At more than 390 pages, the book is divided into two parts (the first part is formed by those articles published in Romanian and the second one is dedicated to articles in English). The book has three Forwards written by well-known personalities in Romania, Moldova and/or internationally as are the cases of Messrs. Radu Gratian Ghetea, Henry E. Russell and Serghei Cebotari.

"The present book is a collection of articles through which we tried to understand the problems which currently challenged humanity and to identify the ways of solving such problems. This very simple task turned out to be an extraordinarily difficult one, especially as the problems are exacerbated by the huge humanitarian issues and finally by the economic challenges brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has swiped the whole planet during 2020-2021", said the authors.

Alex M. Tanase, PhD and Mihai Radoi handle the topics from these articles in a very pragmatic way and they are guided by their professional experience from the international financial institutions and by the deep research of the economic and banking realities in countries in transition to market economies. The authors used very specific data and examples from Moldova and Romania and other countries in the region as well. They handled both theoretical subjects and the practical aspects of high current significance.

Profit: Why did you decide to write this book?

The Authors: In editing this book, we have started from the premises that such a tool of economic, finance, banking and monetary knowledge is still needed in this convoluted period in which the population health problems due to a pandemic without precedent in the recent history of humanity are the priorities. We are convinced that the medical research during the past two years will produce a vaccine/medication with 100% efficiency and that this pandemic will be eradicated. As soon as this will happen (or even in parallel), the economic, financial, banking and monetary issues presented in the book will revert to their rightful status of true priorities in the endeavour to improve the living standards for the peoples living in Romania, Moldova and, on a more general approach, for the peoples in the region.

Profit: Why this specific book?

The Authors: This book was "born" out of the idea that even in the internet and modern ways of mass communications era there is still a need for a thorough study of the macro-economic, social, financial and banking developments. We believe that in educating the current and future generations, books will continue to play a predominant role. The publication of this book is not a commercial exercise. The book has been distributed free of charge to some prestigious libraries (British Library, National Library of Romania, Central Library for Universities Carol I-st Bucharest, Libraries of the Academies for Economic Studies Bucharest and Chisinau, respectively), to some counties and local libraries, some well-known personalities in the financial and banking sectors from a few countries, some specialised domestic and international magazines and, last but not least, to friends and our families without whose permanent support we would have not dared to start this journey!

Profit: Which are the key topics presented in the book?

The Authors: The book is touching on a large variety of topics from the classical macroeconomic-correlations used to maintain the monetary equilibria up to the much-disputed cryptocurrencies. In this book, both the experience of the international financial institutions (the IMF, World Bank, EBRD, International Finance Corporation (IFC), European Investment Bank (EIB) etc.) is presented, on the one hand, and also the practical experience of the commercial banks to resolve the day-to-day activities on the key international financial markets such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York etc., on the other hand.

Profit: Which was the main source of inspiration for the chosen topics?

The Authors: The experience resulted from decades of activities at international financial institutions, commercial banks, key economic and financial ministries and that obtained during our university-level studies, during post-university trainings, master’s degree and doctoral studies all have offered a proper environment to verify our ideas which are presented in the book. This experience was the key source of inspiration in the case of this challenging but very rewarding from a moral point of view exercise.

Profit: Did your experience with international financial institutions play an important role in writing this book?

The Authors: Without any doubt. But the experience alone is not sufficient. One more fundamental ingredient, namely the unconditional dedication for learning, researching and understanding of the reasons for certain financial and monetary evolutions is also required. The case of those articles included in the book about cryptocurrencies is very illustrative in this respect. Our objective was to understand this phenomenon and to express our clear position on an issue that could provoke a deep monetary crisis if the regulations in this field from the central banks will continue to be delayed.

Profit: Which are the most important three conclusions which the readers can draw by reading your book?

The Authors: The first conclusion and the most important one for our potential readers is that research and a full understanding of the economic and monetary events are a sine qua non-condition. We have been careful (and recommend the same to our readers) to issue opinions on topics that were not fully researched by ourselves. Secondly, the research of the chosen topics to be debated cannot be done in an isolated manner. Any financial, banking or monetary phenomenon must be understood in the political and social context in which it takes place. And, finally, in a world in which globalisation trend is more and more present, the study of phenomena in a certain country cannot be made without its international context. Due to modern ways of communication present even in the most remote areas of any country, our world of today became a "little village" in which access to information is crucial.

Profit: Taking into account your vast experience and the fact that you handle any topic in a very pragmatic way, what's advice you would give to a banker/financial specialist at the start of their career?

The Authors: Although it offers professional and material satisfaction, the job of a banker or that of a financial specialist is full of hardships. If you do not love this job, the best would be not to do it. If you still have decided to work in this sector, then your attitude concerning your job, your institution, your clients and your colleagues must be adequate. Apart from solid professional expertise (which needs to be updated constantly) you also need understanding, politeness, correctitude and a condescending position (in other words you need a high moral compass). Without these instruments, the banking community will not reward you. And this is a thing which we all wish to have, isn’t it?

Profit: To conclude, I wish you to convey a message/a good thought for your readers.

The Authors: This whole exercise of preparing this book has finally a very simple message, namely to remind ourselves and together with the readers of the emotional testimony of Ienachita Vacarescu (1740 - 1797) dedicated to his successors:"…I leave you as my legacy: The growth of the Romanian language; And the honouring of our homeland". Mutatis mutandis, we wish for all our readers, irrespective that they live in Romania, Moldova or abroad in various corners of the planet where their destinies placed them, to share our modest knowledge and experience with the current young generation of specialists in finance and banking sectors and with the future generations as well. This little thesaurus of knowledge must be safeguarded at all costs, today more than ever, in a geopolitical regional and global context now convoluted more than ever. The book is a mere instrument to fulfil this wish. If we succeeded or not, it will be only for our readers to confirm it!■


Henry E. RUSSELL, former Director at Financial Institutions Group of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: "The Authors have complied in this edition a wide-ranging and informative collection of articles that review the history of financial and monetary policy reforms in emerging markets as well as some new challenges such as the rise of cryptocurrencies. The articles in this volume present a fascinating perspective on an important period in history and appropriately highlight the importance of the financial and banking sector reform process. The lessons learned for the future are well articulated and represent the most important benefit to be derived from a perusal of the articles contained in this fascinating collection".



Dr. Radu Gratian GHETEA, Honorary President of the Romanian Banking Association: "It is worthwhile to mention the variety of topics if one takes into account the various subjects debated in this collection of articles. Some of these deserve a special mentioning, such as the issue of gold, international reserves, foreign debts and the current risks these implies, the exchange rates of the Romanian Leu and of the Moldovan Leu and the uncovering of the reasons which led to repeated depreciations in both cases, the savings of the population during the pandemic, the currencies of Romania, Moldova and Transnistria and their respective evolutions during the last decades. I hope, together with the authors, that the future generations of financial and banking specialists will use the data and information presented and even more will further develop the ideas presented in this book".



Serghei CEBOTARI, former CEO of Moldova Agroindbank: "It is to be noted the solid approach of the phenomena which impact on the health of the financial and banking system through handling topics such as historical, regional and monetary context; the involvement of the EBRD’s consultants in the development of the young economies; the impact of the IMF membership; inflation evolution; the impact of remittances on the investors’ behaviour; the purchasing power parity in transition; supervision of the financial and banking sector and the macroeconomic equilibria. Of course, if we do a fast forward to today, we can have different opinions on what was going on, but the authors dared to describe the events at the time of their happenings. The professionalism they possess allowed the authors to observe the major aspects (the key ones) and to put them incomprehensible terms, without sophisticated descriptions. To conclude, I would like to mention the fact that the experience shared by the authors, Alex M. Tanase and Mihai Radoi, of this collection of articles is complex informational support, an updated one and, no doubt, a useful one for our specialists in the financial and banking sectors and also for the future generations of students in this field".