The stability and predictability of
the tax system must be a priority for the authorities in order to
maintain a strong and attractive business environment. Only in these
conditions will the private sector be motivated to continue investing
in our country and to provide jobs for its citizens. Any change in the
fiscal framework without impact assessments and dialogue with the
business community, could compromise the potential for economic
development, which is mainly based on attracting foreign direct
investment. As resulted from the latest FIC Study, the taxes paid by
the FIC member companies have a significant direct contribution to
supporting the State budget, the economic growth registered in Romania,
as well as to building wealth. The results show a detailed picture of
the major contribution of large Romanian companies with foreign capital
to the state budget, the most important indicator being the level of
VAT collection, which is the highest. The report/study provides details
regarding the contribution of a representative sample of Romanian
companies with foreign capital to tax revenues through the level of
taxes paid to the state budget.
The introduction of taxes in a timely manner, although not a singular
case, without an analysis of both the direct impact and the
compatibility of European legislation and possible subsequent
reactions, instead of stimulating the economy to generate additional
revenue to the budget, penalizes exactly those segments of companies
that comply and have managed to perform in restrictive sanitary
conditions. Most of the time, making such decisions without a real
consultation with the business environment, without a transparent
dialogue and a reasonable period of adjustment will not have the
expected effect, and the negative impact on Romania's image are very
difficult to regain.
The representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania
(CCIR) believe that Romania’s total territorial reorganization by
reducing the number of counties to 15 is a priority in order to reduce
budget expenditure. According to the cited source, CCIR organized a
working meeting with important employers’ and sectoral professional
organizations in Romania. Talks focused on the current economic
situation, the possibilities for developing and promoting Romanian
products and services and ways of reducing public spending.
Food prices at global level decreased once more in May 2022, by 0.6%,
following a 0.9% decline in the previous month, according to the latest
report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO). The global annual increase in food prices became more moderate,
having got to 22.8%, from 29.7%, amid a significant monthly decrease in
oil and dairy prices.
Retail sales in the European Union and the euro area fell more than
expected in April, amid a drop in food sales, according to data
published by Eurostat on Friday. The data also indicate that retail
sales fell by 1.3% in both the euro area and the European Union in
April 2022 compared to March 2022. Economists interviewed by Reuters
had bet on a 0.3% month-on-month increase in euro area retail sales,
after having recorded an advance in each of the first three months of
the year. Eurostat points out that retail sales in the EU were
influenced by a 2.3% drop in sales of food products, beverages and
cigarettes, as well as by a 0.9% fall in sales of non-food products. In
contrast, fuel sales grew by 1.4% month-on-month.
Retail trade turnover grew by 5% as a gross series during the period 1
January - 30 April 2022, compared to the similar interval of 2021,
following an increase in retail trade in motor fuels in specialized
stores (+10.2%), in sales of non-food products (+6.6%) and sales of
food, beverages and tobacco (+0.6%). Moreover, working-day and
seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover recorded an overall
year-on-year advance of 6.9% during the period 1 January - 30 April
202, following the increases in retail trade in motor fuels in
specialized stores (+10.1%), sales of non-food products (+6.7%) and
sales of food products, beverages and tobacco (+4.6%).
Tiberiu Mavrodin, a member of CEC Bank’s Board of Directors, has been
proposed to take over the helm of the Board of the bank controlled by
the state, through the Ministry of Finance, thus taking over from
Mirela Călugăreanu, the former president of the National Agency for
Fiscal Administration (ANAF), according to banking sources. Such an
appointment becomes official through a memorandum of the Finance
Minister that needs to be approved in the government. Mr. Mavrodin
would thus return to this position he had filled before, after Radu
Ghețea had stepped down from CEC Bank’s helm, after more than a decade.
Tiberiu Mavrodin was previously a secretary of state in the Ministry of
Finance and head of the State Treasury during the Social Democratic
(PSD) governing.
Most large banks reported higher year-on-year profits for Q1 of 2022,
amid the growing lending and the rising revenues following the increase
in interest rates, but also as a result of lower risk costs and
provisions. The three most profitable large banks in Q1/2022 were BCR,
Banca Transilvania and ING Bank, with over RON 1 billion gains
altogether, which represents half of the system’s total profit.
Banca Transilvania will start integrating Ţiriac Leasing into Banca
Transilvania Financial Group after receiving the necessary approvals
for this transaction, which represents the first acquisition by BT of a
leasing company that is not part of a financial-banking group. The bank
claims it is thus taking a strategic step towards strengthening its
position on the automotive leasing market. In January, BT and Țiriac
Group announced the signing of the acquisition agreement, then the
Competition Council’s approval was received, and, once the transaction
is concluded, BT will start integrating Țiriac Leasing into Banca
Transilvania Financial Group, according to information provided by the
bank.
Euroins, the new leader of the insurance market in Romania, part of the
Bulgarian group Eurohold, ended the first quarter of 2022 with EUR 83.3
million gross underwritten premiums, double the level recorded in the
same period last year, according to Eurohold’s quarterly report. The
company’s gross profit grew 14-fold in Q1/2022, to EUR 7.2 million. As
to the company’s activity on the local market, the mandatory civil
liability car insurance (RCA) segment continued to account for 96% of
the company’s portfolio, with a 140% increase in underwritten premiums
in the first three months of 2022.
A ten-hectare plant in the south of Romania, a few kilometers away from
Craiova, 22 processing units, 40 kilometers of pipes and 350 kilometers
of cables - the equivalent of the distance between Bucharest and
Craiova - these are some of the figures behind the over EUR 100 million
investment of the Swiss from Clariant in the bioethanol (fuel for the
automotive industry) plant, officially opened three years after the
start of construction works. The tanks that actually produce the
bioethanol which gets to gas stations are already busy, and the
chemical processes take between 50 and 100 hours each.
Agroland Business System (Bucharest Stock Exchange symbol: AG), a
Romanian retail, agricultural and food entrepreneurial group, is to
invest more than EUR 2 million in the opening of Agroland MEGA stores,
EUR 1 million in increasing the capacity of the farms in Mihăilești and
more than EUR 1 million in the recently acquired feed plant in
Caransebeș. Horia Cardoș, founder and general manager of the Agroland
network, says that 2022 is a year of rebalancing compared to 2021, and
that Agroland aims to become one of the top five national eggs and
chickens producers.
CrisTim Group, one of the biggest producers of meat products in Romania
turnover-wise, controlled by Radu and Cristina Timis, is to invest RON
50 million this year in the refurbishment of the meat products plant in
Filipeștii de Pădure locality, Prahova County, in increasing the
accommodation capacity of Casa Timis mansion in Chitorani locality, the
same county, and in the production of energy for its own consumption.
In 2021, CrisTim had a consolidated turnover of RON 760 million and
about 2,600 employees.
Ford Motor will invest USD 3.7 billion in the production of electric
vehicles and gasoline-powered vehicles at assembly plants in Michigan,
Ohio and Missouri. The company has indicated that USD 2.3 billion of
the total investment will be spent on electric vehicles, as part of the
USD 50 billion in EV spending through 2026 it had previously outlined.
Company officials have stated that Ford will receive incentive packages
of about USD 150 million and about USD 200 million from Michigan and
Ohio, respectively. As part of the investment, the Michigan-based
automotive manufacturer has indicated that it will add more than 6,200
hourly jobs and convert 3,000 temporary workers into full-time
employees who will receive healthcare benefits and higher salaries.
On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the Law amending
Article 369 of Law 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, which sanctions
public incitement, by any means, to violence, hatred or discrimination
because of the phrase "political affiliation or opinion". The draft law
had been challenged at the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) by
Save Romania Union (USR), but the constitutional judges ruled that the
law was constitutional. Laura Vicol, the chairman of the Chamber of
Deputies’ Legal Affairs Committee, has stated that the draft law
transposes an article of the Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on
combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by
means of criminal law into Romanian legislation.
The Senate’s Committee of Inquiry into Child Abuse has initiated two
draft laws, necessary and urgent steps for the safety of children and
young beneficiaries of the special protection system, the chairman of
the committee, Liberal (PNL) Senator Alina Gorghiu announced on Friday.
The first draft law targets post-institutionalization monitoring of
young people leaving the special protection system, yet only with their
consent, for a period of two years. The second draft law aims to amend
and complete the Criminal Procedure Code in order to protect
institutionalized children from further trauma during court hearings.
Save Romania Union (USR) senators have submitted a legislative
initiative introducing the collection of data by the National Institute
of Statistics (INS), its territorial directorates and other official
statistics producers directly from authorities and public institutions
that have already collected such data necessary to INS, in their
current activity, as a general rule. According to the draft law, only
when the necessary data is not available at authorities and public
institutions, can the INS and its territorial directorates, as well as
other statistics producers request such data from providers defined by
law as natural or legal entities that have the obligation to provide
such data for statistical purposes exclusively.
Energy Minister Virgil Popescu is trying to persuade Azerbaijan to
increase oil and gas deliveries to Romania in an attempt to diversify
Romania’s energy resources as Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnector needed
for LNG supply nears completion. Romania is not as dependent on Russian
fossil fuels as other European countries, but imports still account for
almost one-third of its energy consumption, with Russia covering about
a quarter of the natural gas needs and one-third of the oil used in
Romanian refineries. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
energy officials from Romania started to look for alternative suppliers
of gas around the Black Sea and Caspian region and in the Middle East,
but no deals have been announced so far.
The hourly labor cost adjusted by the number of working days grew by
8.84% in Q1/2022 year-on-year, and decreased by 0.47% compared to Q4 of
2021, according to data published by the National Institute of
Statistics on Friday. The most significant YoY increases in hourly
labor costs adjusted by the number of working days in the first three
months of 2022 were recorded in other service activities (17.23%),
information and communication (16.84%) and hotels and restaurants
(15.20%). A decrease in hourly labor costs adjusted by the number of
working days was only recorded in education (-3.12%).
The total number of children in Romania with both parents working
abroad stood at 12,286 at the end of last year, 53 fewer than at the
end of Q3/2021, according to data centralized by the National Authority
for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption (ANPDCA). On the
other hand, the number of children with one parent working abroad grew
to 76,170 at the end of December (2,783 more children than on 30
September 2021). Of the 12,286 children with both parents working
abroad, 11,476 were in the care of up to fourth degree relatives,
without any protection measures, while the rest had been placed in
foster care, in placement centres or with other families or
individuals.