Andreea Negru, president ADAA: “2022 will be the year of endurance for the business environment”

“If 2021 was the year of adaptability and business reinvention for the business environment, 2022 will certainly be the year of endurance in business. Unfortunately, the beginning of the year is characterized not by one or two but by three crises: energy, economic and pandemic, whose effects are reflected on any business, regardless of size or object of activity. It is extremely important that the business community has the capacity to withstand these problems, be patient that the negative effects diminish with the measures that the state authorities should take and the power to optimize workflows and capital. In 2022, the resilience of the business environment will be practically evaluated and I believe that only creative, innovative, and pragmatic entrepreneurs will be able to pass this period with flying colours,” said Andreea Negru, president of the Association for the Development of Local Entrepreneurship (ADAA).

The current economic context does not outline the premises for continued economic growth but reveals dysfunctions that will have negative effects from an economic point of view. High production costs for raw materials, rising transport tariffs and the energy crisis have significant negative effects on business activity, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises that are unable to pay increased bills.

“After a period of timid return to normalcy, in the second half of last year, the business environment suffers again, this time due to high energy and gas prices. If we add to all this the depreciation of the leu and the rising interest rate, translated by the increase in the cost of financing, the macroeconomic picture does not look as we would like,” added the president of ADAA. “Although the prospects are reserved at the beginning of the year in terms of business, they are still elements that indicate business opportunities and trends of return worldwide with influence on the Romanian economic environment. Local entrepreneurs have the maturity and endurance to adapt their business to market developments. National recovery and resilience funds can be a breath of fresh air for the economy. The ability to start major projects that combine the business environment with the administrative one remains to be seen.”

At the Romanian level, among the vulnerabilities of the year are the inflationary shocks generated by the increases in utilities and not only, the current and budget account deficit and, last but not least, possible pandemic mutations that would further affect the world’s economies.

At European level, the pandemic has led to new restrictions in some countries. Higher energy prices are slowing the eurozone economy, which is expected to continue in the near future, according to the latest estimates from the European Central Bank.