The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) celebrated 25 years of activity in Romania, an occasion that brought together in a constructive dialogue the directors and presidents of the largest companies in the country, representatives of the Government, Parliament, Presidential Administration, regulatory authorities, and international institutions. FIC has a solid history as a partner for debates and consultations with the authorities and a visionary approach to economic issues, with a focus on private investment. During the 25 years of activity, the organization brought together over 255 Romanian companies with foreign capital which contributed with recommendations, analyses, studies and debates that supported Romania’s evolution. Starting with the establishment of the organization, the FIC Board of Directors members have been ambassadors of foreign investments and of Romania as a destination for FDIs. The organization has developed in line with foreign investments in the country, which grew from a 6.8% FDI share of Romania’s GDP in 1997 to 38.64% FDI share in 2021. During the event, the Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Nicolae Ciuca, emphasized the constant partnership between the Government and FIC in terms of stimulating foreign investments and the organization’s contribution to identifying the best measures for medium and long-term sustainable economic development, dialogue that led to a record level of foreign investments in 2022. Also, the Minister of Economy, Mr. Florin Spataru, the Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity, Mr. Marius Budai, and the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, Mr. Barna Tánczos, highlighted the significant collaboration with the investors’ organization, and the measures they are considering to support investments and economic activity: the interactive map of the economic sectors – the Economic Atlas, the industrial development strategy, rethinking of the activity by reducing the impact on the environment and through new technology, ensuring the necessary workforce (by improving dual and technological education and career orientation). The investors in dialogue with the authorities have covered the perspectives of the new Romanian Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, the process of examining foreign investments, the status of implementation of NRRP and EU funds available to complement private investments, Romania's accession to the OECD, the fiscal framework stability, the implementation of the digitization processes at the level of the administration and the environmental protection measures.
One in two companies increases salaries or benefits packages to mitigate the impact of rising prices, according to the results of a survey conducted by human resources consultancy firm Hays Romania. Thus, 64% of employers will increase salaries. 46% of these said they would take this step in January 2023, while 34% implemented these changes in 2022.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday, 20 January, that the economic outlook was less bad than feared a couple of months before. Present at the 53rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Mrs. Georgieva explained that what had improved was the potential for China to boost growth and that the IMF expected the Asian state’s GDP to grow by 4.4% in 2023. She said, however, she saw no "dramatic improvement" in the current IMF 2023 global growth forecast of 2.7%.
The situation of the Romanian banking system’s prudential indicators has improved and is in some cases even better than the European Union (EU) average, Romanian banks being well capitalized, while the problem of non-performing loans has been solved, the NPL rate being below 3%. However, the big problem is the low level of financial intermediation (share of loans in GDP), which places Romania at the bottom of the EU ranking. These statements were made by Mugur Isărescu, the Governor of the National Bank of Romania.
Insurance companies paid RON 4.33 billion claims on the general insurance segment in the first nine months of 2022, down by 7.4% year-on-year, while the level of underwriting grew exponentially, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). Thus, on a volume of gross written premiums of little over RON 10 billion in the general insurance area in the first nine months of 2022, insurers operating on the general insurance segment were left, after the payment of claims, with RON 5.67 billion that they had to use in order to cover technical reserves, reinsurance placements and administrative expenses.
Allianz-Țiriac Asigurări sold more than 316,400 optional home insurance policies in 2022, up by 35% year on year, the company has reported. The company issued 47,888 optional home insurance policies during the period 1 November – 31 December 2022. About 8,500 of these were new policies (new business, no renewals), of which more than 4,500 qualified for the campaign within which a PAD (mandatory home insurance) policy was offered free of charge. The total insured sum corresponding to the policies covered by the campaign is about RON 4 billion.
The European Central Bank (ECB) will not stop with one single 50 basis point hike at its next rate-setting meetings, a board member told CNBC. The European Central Bank raised rates four times throughout 2022, bringing its deposit rate to 2%. The central bank in December said it would be increasing rates further in 2023 to address sky-high inflation. Recent data has shown a slowdown in headline inflation, even if it remains well above the ECB’s 2% target.
Early Game Ventures (EGV), one of the most active funds investing in tech start-ups on the local market, invested a total of nearly EUR 5 million in 19 companies in 2022, of which 16 were start-ups already in its portfolio and three were new ventures - Profluo, OxidOS and Ogre.ai. The investment fund ended 2022 with a portfolio of 28 companies, of which 25 active and 3 exits, and this year will continue to invest mainly in tech start-ups developing solutions on the business-to-business (B2B) segment.
The Ascendis Group, the main player on the professional development training and consultancy market in Romania, is investing EUR 100,000 in local software company Ringhel, which has created the PROCESIO technology, a platform that allows employees without advanced technical knowledge to build their own software products for the processes they manage. PROCESIO, a no/low-code and full-code platform, developed starting in 2020 by Ringhel, a company recognized on the local market for software solutions in the energy industry, includes technology that has been created for companies that need to build customized automations and integrations or to process data rapidly and at low costs, regardless of industry or department.
U.S. power chip maker Wolfspeed Inc is planning to build an over EUR 2 billion (USD 2.17 billion) plant in Germany, Handelsblatt reported on Saturday. The German automotive supplier ZF will hold a minority stake at the chips factory, the business newspaper said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the project. Production should begin in four years at the site in the small southwest German state of Saarland, the report added.
Ministry of Agriculture aims to introduce an aid scheme for breeders of Baza and Mangalita pig breeds. The aforementioned breeders will benefit from RON 1 million financial support in 2023, through a de minimis aid scheme carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), according to a draft law published on the institution’s website. The total amount of de minimis aid to be granted to a single enterprise may not exceed EUR 20,000 over three tax years, namely during the current tax year (the year in which the application is submitted) and the two previous tax years.
The increase in penalties for improper waste management, for both legal and natural entities, is perhaps the most important change to the Law on the Waste Regime, recently published in the Official Gazette of Romania, environmental consultants have indicated. According to a press release, the legislation introduces several new obligations for public administrations regarding selective waste collection and recycling, and replaces the term "waste producer" with "waste generator". Moreover, starting from 1 January 2025, authorities will have the obligation to ensure separate collection of municipal and textile waste.
Access to public buildings, coordination of civil works, streamlining of permit procedures and single information points are at the centre of the EU executive’s legislation to fast-track the deployment of high-capacity networks like 5G. The European Commission is due to present a regulation on measures to reduce the cost of deploying gigabit electronic communications networks, the Gigabit Infrastructure Act. The proposal is a revision of the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD). The Directive was adopted in 2014 to reduce costs and red tape for deploying high-speed digital infrastructure. However, it was largely ignored or misinterpreted by the member states, prompting the Commission to move toward a regulation that does not need to be transposed into national law.
Romania had the lowest level of prices for consumer goods and services in household final consumption expenditure among the EU Member States, in 2021, 45% lower than the EU average, followed by Bulgaria (44% below the EU average) and Poland (40%), according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). EUR 100 was paid at EU level for consumer goods and services of the final consumption expenditure in 2021, EUR 144 in Ireland and EUR 55 in Romania.
The population under one year old decreased by 20% in the latest census, compared to the previous one, the fastest decline of all age groups, according to data presented by the National Institute of Statistics (INS)’s President Tudorel Andrei on Friday, during an event on demography. Romania’s population fell by 5.3% in 2021 census, compared to 2011 census. By age group, the number of children aged under 8 decreased by 8.4% and the number of children under 10 years old dropped nearly 6%, Tudorel Andrei indicated. Moreover, the share of Romanians aged under 65 fell from almost 20% to little over 18%, while the share of those over 65 grew from 16% to almost 20%.