Daniel Anghel, FIC: “Romania should focus on attracting investments that lead to increased value added throughout the economy”

The annual Forum of the Presidents of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) took place on January 16 at the Victoria Palace, with the participation of the Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu. The event brought together 60 presidents and general managers of FIC member companies from different sectors of activity, such as energy, construction, automotive, financial, and banking, telecommunications, services, pharma, retail, and manufacturing with the shared objective to contribute together with the Government to identify the strategic directions for the sustainable development of Romania.

The FIC member companies are registered and paying taxes in Romania for more than 25 years, supporting almost 190,000 jobs in Romania, with a turnover that covers 25 % of Romania’s GDP. Also, investments made by these companies started in the late 1990s, a fact that revealed their continuous commitment to invest in Romania on a long-term basis. In 2022, the contribution of all FIC member companies to the general consolidated budget was estimated at 84 billion RON, which represents 20% of all income collected by the state in that year.

FIC is a proactive partner for the national authorities and international organizations and prepares relevant studies and analyses such as the Va Urma project (the backbone of the strategic objectives for Romania to become the 10th economy in the EU), the White Book (the radiography of Romania’s economy followed by a series of recommendations to improve key areas), the study on the fiscal footprint of companies (the dashboard of fees and taxes paid by FIC members to the state budget) and the study on foreign direct investments in Romania. All these documents reflect guiding lines which the top management of the biggest investors in Romania propose to strengthen the national economy`s and the state budget’s resilience to ensure Romania`s competitiveness in attracting private investments, to ensure a medium to long durable development and to secure a balance between tax reform and fiscal burden.

“Romania ranks very well in many categories that investors are interested in and analyze, but there are also some points of concern. Our country continues to rank last among countries in our region (CEE) in terms of FDI per capita. We have significant gaps in terms of investment levels, productivity, competitiveness, and employment. Romania should focus on attracting investments that lead to increased value added throughout the economy, thus generating a multiplier effect in the economy. Romania’s competitiveness is also impacted by unpredictable legislative changes, along with excessive bureaucracy and persistent inefficiencies in public administration that needs to digitize an accelerated manner. We appreciate the openness to dialogue and we are convinced that this forum can facilitate extremely useful discussions for both the Government and the business environment, with benefits for the economy and society,” stated the President of FIC, Daniel Anghel.

During the event, the Government, together with the top management of the companies, discussed topics such as the tax reform for 2025 – consultation and predictability, the commitment not to introduce additional taxes in 2024, the reduction of tax evasion and public spending, the NRRP reforms and the acceleration of the absorption of European funds, energy independence, the strategy for attracting FDI with high added value, human capital and healthcare and last but not least, the consultation on strategic objectives. FIC’s task forces will continue to analyze the discussed areas, submit proposals and recommendations in line with European best practices and work together with the ministries.

Investors’ confidence is based on dialogue with the authorities, consultation in advance on legislative changes, stability and predictability of public policies. At the same time, the development of clear strategies regarding the priority areas for investments and proactivity with potential investors would support FDI in Romania. FIC stands with the Government to jointly identify, in regular meetings, sustainable measures for the development of the economy and implicitly, the improvement of Romania’s competitiveness in the region. ​