On 17 January 2023, the Foreign Investors Council celebrated 25 years of activity in Romania together with CEOs members, Prime-minister, representatives of the Government, Parliament, regulatory authorities, international institutions and agency dedicated to FDI. On this occasion, the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă stated that according to official data from the National Bank of Romania, the flow of foreign direct investments had stood at EUR 9.4 billion in the first ten months of 2022 and would reach EUR 11.3 billion for the entire year 2022, nearly EUR 2 billion above the values recorded in 2008, considered the best benchmark. These are record figures, which confirm investors’ confidence in the measures taken by the government, said the Prime Minister, pointing out that investments spending would reach RON 112 billion in the budget for 2023, and would account for about 7.22% of GDP, a record high level for Romania.
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.
Finance Minister Adrian Câciu stated on Wednesday, 18 January, that inflation would decrease more visibly and gradually in March, pointing out that the Government aimed to have a single-digit inflation rate by the end of 2023. He also said that the National Bank of Romania was optimistic about addressing single-digit inflation.
New orders in the manufacturing industry increased by 19.4% in nominal terms in the first 11 months of 2022 year-on-year, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics on Wednesday, 18 January 2023. Moreover, overall new orders in the manufacturing industry grew by 14.7% in nominal terms in November 2022 compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, as a result of increases recorded in the current goods industry (+18.8%), the capital goods industry (+15.3%), the intermediate goods industry (+13.4%) and the durable goods industry (+11.8%).
Total industry turnover (domestic and external market) grew by 25.8% in nominal terms, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics on Wednesday. By major industrial groups, increases in turnover were recorded in the following sectors: the energy industry (+95.1%), intermediate goods industry (+22.8%), consumer goods industry (+22.3%), capital goods industry (+20.3%) and durable goods industry (+11.2%).
Insurance companies made RON 22.1 billion total technical reserves for future claims in the first nine months of 2022, up by 7.4% year-on-year, according to data published by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) in the report on the evolution of the insurance market in the first three quarters of 2022. Insurers have the obligation to make technical reserves upon selling each policy in order to fulfil their obligations to clients. In terms of structure of these reserves, they are divided into two categories, namely general insurance and life insurance.
Finnish company Nokian Tyres has requested an ad-hoc regional state aid from the Government for the construction of a new tires production plant in Oradea, an investment initially announced and estimated at EUR 650 million. The Government will further ask for the aid from the European Commission, which will take the form of a grant of about EUR 99.55 million. The maximum amount of this aid, according to European rules, is EUR 100 million.
Transilvania Construcții acquired, from Comalim S.A., an industrial park located on a 4.4 hectare plot of land in the northern part of Arad, within a transaction valued at about EUR 3.5 million. The property includes two production units, storage and administrative buildings with a leasable area of over 16,000 square meters, to be modernized by the new owner. Thus, Transilvania Construcții continues to consolidate its position in the western part of the country and remains one of the most important local players on the industrial market.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has announced that the Government approved, during the meeting on Wednesday, 18 January, a RON 420 million investment targeting the construction of the rail line to link "Traian Vuia" Airport to the city of Timişoara. He has also mentioned other projects included on the government meeting’s agenda, such as: the widening of DN 1A national road to four lanes and the implementation of road safety measures for the sector between Bucharest Ring Road and the crossroads with Chitila-Mogoșoaia road; capital repair works on the bridge on DN 3B national road, near Călărași and the construction of an internationally competitive sports center (Turda sports center).
The General Secretariat of the Government (SGG) has transmitted that an emergency ordinance should be adopted to establish a way of refunding the amounts withheld from pensioners with incomes above RON 4,000. The General Secretariat has warned that the number of pensioners affected is so high that the work of courts of law will be blocked by lawsuits that will have "serious consequences" for the state budget. In a briefing note, the Secretariat General of the Government transmitted that it was foreseeable that claimants who had requested the refund of amounts withheld from their pensions as social security contributions, from January 2022 until the time the withholding ceases, would obtain favorable solutions from courts, regardless of the defenses formulated in these cases for the Romanian Government.
The Government has approved the draft ordinance on the quality of water intended for human consumption. The measure involves, among other things, detecting and replacing all lead elements in buildings to avoid contamination of the water distribution network. For each day of delay in transposing the legislation, Romania risks infringement, a EUR 1,692,000 fine and penalties of up to EUR 122,670.
Ministry of Development has transmitted that the government approved several amendments to Law 212/2022 on measures to reduce the seismic risk of buildings on Wednesday, 18 January 2023. According to the cited source, in order to render the National Program for the Consolidation of High Seismic Risk Buildings more efficient, the normative act proposes including into the category of eligible expenses under the Program the expenses for drawing up the technical expertise, in order to classify buildings in a seismic risk class and to substantiate the intervention measures, for drawing up the energy audit and for drawing up the energy performance certificate following the intervention.
The three biggest parties – Christian democrats (EPP), socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew Europe) – struck an agreement on the setting up of a new permanent sub-committee on public health in the European Parliament. The deal was reached on Wednesday morning (18 January) in the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents, which brings together the leaders for each political group and is tasked with establishing new sub-committees. The mandate of the forthcoming Parliament’s health committee is still open, and the talks will continue in the next few days, an EPP source indicated.
Family Minister Gabriela Firea has announced that the first vouchers from the program aimed at increasing birth rate in Romania have reached the women who applied for them. Gabriela Firea has indicated that one in five couples struggle with infertility in Romania, according to recent studies. The RON 15,000 financial support granted by the Romanian government, through the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, will get to beneficiaries in the form of two vouchers: a voucher worth RON 5,000 for medical treatment, from the network of partner pharmacies, and a second voucher, worth RON 10,000, for the embryo-transfer procedure, if the doctor deems the first stage a success.
The beginning of the year is an ideal time for people to focus on their personal life and create a list of resolutions. In 2023, 54% of Romanians living in urban areas who use the internet said they had such a list. Moreover, in terms of resolutions made in 2022, 39% of Romanians achieved more than half of them and only 6% ticked all of them, an iSense Solutions study indicates.