THE PUBLIC SECTOR EFFICIENCY FROM PERSPECTIVE OF THE CORRUPTION PHENOMENON.

Corruption in the public sector has adverse effects over the efficiency of the public spending, over the public sector's performance; it also undermines the confidence in the public institutions and leads to an unnecessarily increase of the cost of the public transactions. The high level of corruption in Romania is the main factor that has a negative impact over the effectiveness of the public actions. The economic consequences are related to the lower foreign investments and to the slow development of the private sector, the development of the underground economy, the irrational use of the public financial resources that affect the public sector's performance. In 2011, Romania occupies the last position among the EU analyzed countries in terms of corruption control, at an insignificant distance from Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. In the fight against corruption, an increased attention should be given to proactive measures; to the prevention measures of such acts, once committed will trigger a chain reaction. It must also be kept in mind that corruption doesn't only have economic and political causes, but it is primarily found in human nature. For Romania, in the context of the financial and economic crisis, the only solution is to combat corruption, namely protecting the public resources from the risks associated to corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]