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%.