A vital criterion for large investors remains the stability, predictability, and transparency of the legislative framework, as also highlighted by the latest edition of the Business Sentiment Index (BSI) published by the Foreign Investors Council. This criterion was not met for the measures taken by Romania in the energy domain, most of them being adopted in 2022 through emergency ordinances without the necessary time to consult with the parties involved. Although important market players are making major efforts to adapt to new regulations, compliance and implementation are becoming increasingly burdensome given the tight deadlines, multiple changes over the past year and imperfections in the legislation, and thus the functioning of the market is affected. FIC reiterates the need for a predictable legislative framework and consultation with the business environment to reach the best solutions to ensure energy security, protecting vulnerable consumers and the viability of all actors involved in the energy sector, and at the same time, member companies’ openness for dialog with state authorities to provide analyses and the expertise of professionals from private sector. We continue to be the partners of the Government in identifying sustainable measures to overcome the energy crisis, but also to ensure Romania’s economic development.
The National Institute of Statistics (INS) has revised its GDP growth estimates for Q3/2022 slightly downwards, to 1.2%, compared to the previous three months. Previously, the INS had reported, on 8 December 2022, that GDP growth in Q3 was 1.3% compared to Q2. According to the second flash data published by INS on Thursday, 12 January, GDP in Q3/2022 grew by 3.8% on a gross basis and by 4.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis year-on-year. The figures are also lower than those included in the previous version of INS’s report, which indicated that GDP had grown by 4% in the third quarter of 2022 on a gross basis and by 4.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The average net wage in November was RON 4,141, up by RON 133 (+3.3%) against October 2022. The highest value of the average net wage was recorded in information technology service activities, including computer service activities (RON 10,329), and the lowest one was reported in hotels and restaurants (RON 2,258), according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Thursday. The average net wage in November 2022 grew by 13.6% year-on-year.
The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report highlights the cost of living crisis as the biggest short-term risk facing the world right now, with climate change as the biggest long-term threat. The report, which has been published ahead of the Davos summit for the last 17 years, factors the views of 1,200 figures across the private and public sectors. This year’s edition — produced with professional services firm Marsh McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group — said that Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic had propelled the energy crisis, food scarcity and inflation as the most pressing global issues.
Ministry of Finance borrowed RON 1.55 billion from banks on Thursday, 12 January 2023, through two auctions of government securities, at yields of 7.60% and 7.49% per year. In the first auction, the Finance Ministry reopened a bonds issue maturing in 2034 and borrowed RON 748 million, 50% more than the programmed amount of RON 500 million, at an annual interest rate of 7.60%. The total volume of demand was RON 1.02 billion and the coupon rate was 4.75%.
Patria Credit, a non-banking financial institution specializing in financing farmers and micro-enterprises, expects to record advances in 2023, and estimates an increase in the balance of financing of 20% or more for the entire year 2022, with a RON 160 million portfolio, Raluca Andreica, General Manager of Patria Credit IFN, stated during the ZF Live business program. She also pointed out that 2022 had been a difficult year in terms of financing due to the rising funding costs.
OMNIASIG Vienna Insurance Group has taken one more step towards digital development. The company has thus launched the option of carrying out the car’s risk inspection using 100% digital means, upon contracting a Casco optional car insurance policy. Clients can now carry out their own risk inspection remotely when taking out a Casco policy, in just a few minutes, using their mobile phone via an intuitive, easy-to-use app, without assistance from an OMNIASIG representative.
Bricks manufacturer Cemacon Cluj-Napoca (stock exchange symbol CEON) has informed the capital market about the launch of procedures for Euro Cărămida’s acquisition, a company activating on the ceramic building blocks market headquartered in Bihor County. CEON shares, listed on the main segment of Bucharest Stock Exchange, are 78% owned by Pavăl Holding, the investment vehicle owned by brothers Adrian and Dragoș Pavăl, founders of Dedeman. PIF Industrial owns 16.8% of the share capital, while the rest is held by other shareholders.
Packaging manufacturer Electric from Focșani, owned by the Buzăianu family, plans to build a factory to manufacture trash bags for household use, an investment estimated at EUR 20 million, for which it is looking for a partner. Electric owns a factory in Focșani, where 160 employees operate more than 30 production lines, and where it manufactures bottles, flasks, caps, shrink-wrap, bags and sacks from biodegradable materials, as well as steel or aluminum molds, full-size 3D prototypes or 3D scans.
The total volume of transactions with commercial real estate assets worth at least EUR 5 million stood at around EUR 1.25 billion in 2022, up by 40% year-on-year, according to data from JLL Romania consultancy firm. Prime yields for the office market in Romania grew from 6.75% to 7% in Q4/2022, while those on the segment of shopping centers and industrial spaces stayed at 7.25% and 7.50% respectively.
VAT for photovoltaic panels and heat pumps will be reduced from 19% to 5%. The corresponding law was promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, 12 January 2023. The VAT reduction will boost investments in small production units and consumers’ energy efficiency, and will lead to new prosumers who will be able to reduce their energy bills and transfer the surplus production into the national energy system.
On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the draft law establishing 2023 as "Dimitrie Cantemir and Ciprian Porumbescu Cultural Year". The Parliament, the Presidential Administration, the Government, the central and local public administration authorities, as well as the public institutions subordinated to or coordinated by them, may allocate funds from their own budgets to organize or to logistically and/or financially support cultural, artistic and educational events or promotion programs, within the limits of the approved budget allocations.
EU lawmakers have given the green light to amend the European Parliament’s internal rulebook and give the European Public Prosecutor’s Office powers to demand the lifting of legal immunity for EU lawmakers suspected of grave offences. The changes were adopted unanimously on Thursday (12 January) by the Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs committee and are expected to be finalised during next week’s plenary session in Strasbourg. However, observers have already suggested that the changes were more cosmetic than substantial to have a really transformative effect.
The Government has announced that the aid from European money that will allow vulnerable people to pay their energy bills amounts to RON 1,400, and the money will be granted in two tranches, in February and September. This will cover part of people’s energy costs, regardless of their nature: electricity, heating, gas, gas heaters, firewood, fuel oil, pellets and other heating materials.
Seven out of ten Romanian employees say they would change their current job for a higher salary, and almost three out of ten would quit their current job for more job security, according to a survey conducted by MKOR Consulting. The data shows that employees have enjoyed job stability over the past 12 months, and optimism continues into the new year, with more than half of participants saying they had no reason to worry about their job in 2023.
Nearly 9 out of 10 (89%) participants in an international survey conducted by Beko admitted they ignored the best practices for saving energy at home, even though 80% said they knew how they should use their electrical household appliances in an energy-efficient way. The survey analyzes consumer attitudes and behaviors related to energy efficiency in several countries and is part of the company’s latest endeavor to learn more information about the use of electrical household appliances.