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.