Finance Minister Adrian Câciu has stated that Romania is very stable at
the moment and there will be no more fiscal adjustments until at least
2025. According to the Finance Minister, Romania needs to understand
that the transfer to production economy, with added value and no longer
dependent on the trade balance, is the future. He has added, among
other things, that 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product has gone
to economy and citizens in 2022, and at least the same figure may be
allocated in 2023 as well.
The World Bank is currently analyzing the fiscal measures introduced by
the Government in July, through Government Ordinance (OG) 16, according
to Profit.ro. The analysis conducted by the World Bank, within the
National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), will be an opportunity to
make some changes to OG 16, although these would most likely be of a
technical nature and will depend on the decisions to be made within the
ruling Coalition, persons close to the matter have reported. The
measures introduced through OG 16 were the most significant fiscal
changes made in the past few years, as part of the commitments made
under PNRR, supported with EU funds.
Trade between Romania and Germany has followed an upward trend, having
totaled EUR 35.1 billion at the end of 2021 and EUR 23.3 billion at the
middle of this year. Direct German investments in Romania stood at EUR
12.55 billion at the end of 2021, according to the German Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Romania, H.E. Peer Gebauer.
ING Bank Romania has announced that it will continue to grant loans
with state guarantees and subsidized interest rates to Romanian
entrepreneurs, for the third consecutive year, within the SME Invest
Plus 2022 program. The institution has received more than 18,000
applications and has granted over RON 3 billion loans since 2020, when
the first edition of the IMM Invest program started, of which about 80%
went to micro and small-sized enterprises, according to data provided
by ING Bank officials.
Raiffeisen Bank, the local subsidiary of the Austrian group bearing the
same name, has reported a RON 920 million net profit for the first nine
months of 2022, up by 43% year-on-year, while the bank’s revenues grew
by 19% year-on-year, to RON 2.3 billion, according to the institution’s
financial report. Total assets exceeded RON 62 billion on 30 September,
up by 9% against the similar period of 2021.
Banca Românească is to carry out, over the next three months, a
promotional campaign for the shopping card within which any new card
issue comes with zero maintenance fee for one year, and the minimum
threshold for which holders can make transactions in instalments at
POSs will be reduced to RON 150, from RON 200, according to a press
release. The cited source also indicates that the campaign started on 1
November 2022 and will end on 31 January 2023 and will offer new
holders access to worry-free shopping during the winter holidays, as
well as the possibility to pay local taxes and charges in instalments.
Building materials manufacturer DAW Bența Romania, owned by Remus Aurel
Bența and German giant DAW SE, has inaugurated an approximately EUR 7
million investment in a decorative bricks factory, located in Sâncraiu
de Mureș, Mureș County. The investment was made through shareholders’
capital contribution, with EUR 1.3 million governmental support for
investments and with the help of a loan granted by the company’s
financial partner.
Prime Kapital has announced a massive new investment project in
Romania, namely a new large-scale urban regeneration project in
Cluj-Napoca, aimed at turning a 17.1 hectare industrial platform into a
multifunctional development to include several types of buildings. The
project will consist of a shopping center with approximately 75,000
square meters of leasable space, a residential complex with about 1,400
high quality apartments and an office component with more than 49,000
leasable square meters. Total development costs exceed EUR 330 million.
Curiera remains committed to its sustainability goal and has invested
in business development in 2022, thus fulfilling the company’s mission
to deliver parcels to beneficiaries in the most environmentally
friendly way possible, according to a press release. The cited source
also indicates that, starting this week, 13 of the 17 cars in the
courier company’s fleet will be fully electric ones. Curiera will be
phasing out its four fuel-powered cars by the end of 2023, and will
continue to increase its fleet. Depending on manufacturers’
availability and the ceilings of tax facilities, it estimates that it
could add 15 more electric cars to its fleet.
On Wednesday, 2 November, the Romanian Government approved the draft
law on the organization and functioning of the National Signals
Information System and Romania’s participation in the Schengen
Information System. According to a press release issued by the
government, the draft law ensures the legal framework necessary for
Romania’s participation in the data exchange with Schengen member
states, in accordance with the provisions included in the three
regulations forming the new European legal basis of the Schengen
Information System (SIS) on return, borders and cooperation.
Liberal (PNL) MP Gabriel Andronache has announced that he proposed that
scooters’ speed on public roads should be limited to 15 km/h. Scooters
can currently run with up to 25 km/h. The number of serious traffic
accidents involving scooter riders has increased 20 times in the past
four years, according to data made available by the Romanian General
Police Inspectorate.
A draft Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) proposing several changes
to tax legislation has been recently put up for public debate at the
Ministry of Finance. Among other things, the draft OUG proposes changes
or new provisions regarding insolvency. The proposals aim to give tax
authorities new powers within insolvencies they act as creditor in.
Several MPs from the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Social
Democratic Party (PSD) and from Save Romania Union (USR) have submitted
a draft law to the Senate which, if adopted, will allow pets’ access to
public institutions and public transport. The legislative initiative
amends Law 205/2004 on animal protection and introduces three new
articles. The Senate is the first notified chamber, while the Chamber
of Deputies is the decision-making body in this case.
The European Commission wants to reduce the environmental impact of
packaging by mandating that producers use a minimum amount of recycled
plastic in new packaging placed on the market. Only 5% of plastic in
packaging came from recycled sources in 2019, according to industry
group Plastics Europe. And recyclers face an uphill battle to sell
secondary materials in a market dominated by cheaper and higher-quality
virgin supplies. To tackle this, Brussels is expected to boost the
demand for recycled plastic by broadening recycled content targets from
plastic bottles to all plastic packaging.
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.2% in September, 0.1%
higher than in August, according to data published by the National
Institute of Statistics (INS). The number of unemployed aged 15-74
estimated for September 2022 was 432,700 persons, higher than in the
previous month (422,500 persons), yet slightly lower than in September
2021 (432,800 persons).