The Government has
announced that on Thursday, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă met, at
Victoria Palace, with representatives of the Coalition for Romania’s
Development (CDR). Daniel Anghel represented the Foreign Investors
Council (FIC) at the meeting and will coordinate CDR on behalf of FIC
starting with 1 July. The topics presented by Daniel Anghel were
related to macroeconomic stability and the predictability and
transparency of the fiscal system. He also highlighted the importance
of the dialogue between the business community and the authorities in
order to stimulate the economic development of Romania
Inflation will continue to grow in June and July, when it will peak at
an annual rate of 15% or even higher, Ionut Dumitru, chief economist at
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, stated during the ZF Live business program.
The latest inflation figures for May 2022 show a 14.5% generalized
increase in prices, on the average basket of consumer products and
services in Romania, according to data from the National Institute of
Statistics (INS). In his opinion, inflation is lower thanks to the
capping of energy prices. Had the energy and gas prices not been capped
for most end consumers, inflation in Romania would have exceeded 20%.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) will propose, within the ruling
coalition, a 40% surtax on public sector salaries that exceed the
Romanian President’s salary, a two-step surtaxing of special pensions,
a progressive system of deductions for salaries under RON 4,500, as
well as a contribution for Healthcare and Education of 0.5% of the
turnover to be paid by companies with over EUR 100 million annual
revenues. Given the social solidarity and fairness principles that must
underpin the reform of the tax system in Romania, PSD believes that the
tax regime applied to taxpayers needs to be differentiated, depending
on their income. Therefore, the new tax model must introduce higher
taxes for those with high incomes and lower taxes for low-income
earners, according to the Social Democrats.
Turnover from market services provided to the population grew by 40.5%
as a gross series and by 43.2% as a working days and
seasonally-adjusted series in the first four months of 2022, compared
to the same period of 2021, according to data published by the National
Institute of Statistics (INS) on Thursday. Moreover, the turnover from
wholesale and retail trade, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles
and motorcycles increased by 6.3% as a gross series during the period 1
January - 30 April 2022, compared to the similar interval of 2021.
The shareholders of Patria Bank (stock exchange symbol PBK) approved -
following the Extraordinary General Meeting on 16 June - the issuance
of RON or euro denominated unsecured, non-convertible bonds, in
dematerialized form, within one or several issues, worth EUR 5 million
altogether, according to a report published on Bucharest Stock Exchange
on Thursday. Patria Bank recorded a net profit of RON 9.5 million in
2021, up by 238% year-on-year, and RON 1.1 billion new loans, up by
32%, according to the preliminary financial report.
Allianz-Tiriac ended the first quarter of 2022 with approximately RON
820 million gross underwritten premiums, more than twice the level
recorded in the same period of 2021. The increase in sales was
generated by the expansion of the client portfolio. The operating
profit, the remaining amount following the payment of compensations,
the forming of reserves and the deduction of operating expenses, stood
at RON 45.3 million, slightly higher than in Q1/2021.
The Central Depository distributes dividends corresponding to the year
2021 to Banca Transilvania’s shareholders during the period 16 June
2022-15 June 2025. The value of the gross dividend per share is RON
0.1267533618. The shareholders to benefit from dividends are those
registered in the issuer’s shareholders register on 6 June 2022,
according to a press release issued by the Central Depository.
Shareholders who are clients of a Participant in the Central
Depository’s clearing and settlement system and register can collect
their dividends through the Central Depository.
Danish toys maker Lego is to invest more than USD 1 billion in a
factory in the USA in order to shorten supply chains and cope with the
growing demand for colored plastic "bricks" on one of its biggest
markets. The unit in Chesterfield County, Virginia, will be the Danish
company’s second factory in North America, and the seventh unit at
global level, after a new factory in Vietnam was announced last year.
The investment is in line with Lego’s strategy of placing production
close to key markets, a strategy that has helped the company during the
period when the global industry was faced with supply chain disruptions
following the pandemic. Moreover, the factory in the USA will be carbon
neutral.
Buzău County is to receive a huge sum for investments, namely EUR 300
million, from the European Commission. The money will be used for the
expansion and modernization of the water and sewage network in the
entire county. However, Buzău Water Company’s investments will entail
higher prices. The biggest investment in Buzău County’s water and
wastewater infrastructure since 1990 was recently announced by the
Mayor of Buzău, Constantin Toma, president of the APĂ-2008
Intercommunity Development Association, which ensures the management of
Buzău Water Company.
Real estate developers continue to expand their retail project
portfolios in Romania. Spaces spreading on over 500,000 square meters
have been announced for the next four years and ten of the planned
projects have more than 10,000 square meters each. At regional level,
projects totaling 270,000 square meters are under construction and in
the planning phase in the West Central area. They will add to the
existing stock of 1.4 million square meters. This area will thus
continue to be the most developed in terms of modern retail spaces
built there.
Minister for European Investments and Projects Marcel Boloş has
announced that on Thursday, the Government approved the emergency
ordinance on the provision of EUR 400 million total investment grants
to small and medium-sized enterprises. He has indicated that there will
be two stages of measures. One of them will be allocated EUR 60
million, with grants ranging from EUR 50,000 to EUR 200,000, and
targets service provision capacity and the rebuilding of service
provision capacity in areas such as education, healthcare, social
assistance and services provided to the population. The second
component refers to the provision of grants for rebuilding the
resilience capacity of SMEs affected by the crisis.
The Vice-Chair of the Committee on Industries and Services, Save
Romania Union (USR) MP Cristina Prună, has announced that she managed
to include two important changes into the Energy Law that bring more
transparency to the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE)’s
activity. As a result, the tariff comparator could be integrated into
news websites. To be more exact, ANRE will have to transparently
publish monthly data on market transactions and will make the tariff
comparator application available to any interested party.
Several Liberals have submitted a draft law in Parliament to mark the
"Postpartum Depression Awareness Week" annually, before 1 October, the
date designated as the "European Depression Day". The legislative
proposal completes the Law on Mental Health and Protection of People
with Mental Disorders no 487/2002 and was initiated by PNL Senators
Alina Gorghiu, Monica Anisie, Lucia Dina Mutean and by PNL MP Adrian
Hatos.
The government approved the draft law for the purchase of 32 F-16
aircraft from Norway during Thursday’s meeting. According to the draft
law, the Romanian Government will award the contract for the
acquisition of 32 F-16 aircraft, with initial logistic support and a
complementary package of goods and services (ensured by the US
Government) to the Government of Norway, in order to achieve the
transitional air operational capability stipulated in the Air Defense
Capability Gradual Achievement Concept, within the "Air Force Multirole
Aircraft" program.
Romania received the first quantities of natural gas extracted from the
Midia Gas Development (MGD), the first new offshore gas development in
Romania in more than three decades. The project is developed by Black
Sea Oil & Gas, a company owned by global investment firm
Carlyle International and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, in the Ana and Doina gas fields in the Black Sea. The MGD
Project is expected to deliver approximately 500 million cubic meters
of gas this year, with peak production expected to be around one
billion cubic meters per year for the following three years out of the
ten estimated for the gas fields. Thus, the project is expected to
cover around 10% of Romania’s gas consumption.
About 17.5% of the European Union’s population lived in overcrowded
households in 2020, i.e. households that did not have at their disposal
a minimum number of rooms available, depending on the household’s size,
family situation and the ages of its members. In Romania, nearly half
of the population (45.1%) lived in overcrowded dwellings, the highest
level in the community bloc, according to data published by Eurostat on
Thursday. Other countries with high overcrowding rates are Latvia
(42.5%), Bulgaria (39.5%), Poland (36.9%) and Croatia (36.2%).
More than seven out of ten Romanians (72%) believe that a crisis will
follow and their main reason for concern is the increase in prices of
consumer goods, Marius Luican, general manager of Reveal, a market
research company, stated during an event organized by Raiffeisen Bank
Romania. To protect themselves from inflation, six out of ten Romanians
are considering reducing consumption, another 42% plan to ask for
salary increases, a quarter of Romanians are considering emigrating and
16% might change their current jobs.