German companies less optimistic about the Romanian economy outlook, says AHK

Romania still offers good business opportunities, but to continue the foreign investments and jobs creation, companies need a stable economic environment, legal stability, a well developed infrastructure and a functional education system, according to a survey of the Chamber of Romanian-German Trade and Industry (AHK), together with other 15 states from the Central and Eastern Europe (ECE).

The current economic situation and the situation of the SMEs has slightly improved compared with 2016 and are slightly over the average of the other states from the region, according to the survey. But German companies are less optimistic about the Romanian economy perspective, with 47 percent of the German companies unsatisfied by this aspect. Thus, Romania is on the penultimate place, before Bosnia an Herzegovina.

Less German companies than in 2016 say they will make new investments (37 percent in 2017 and 45 percent in 2016), while over a half of the surveyed companies say the number of employees will increase (2017: 54 percent, compared with 48 percent in 2016). More than a half of the 120 surveyed companies with German capital say that the situation from their field is unchanged compared with last year, while 14 percent believe it got worse.

The political and economic frameworks improved in some aspects, but others still need urgent improvements, especially in corruption fight, where Romania registered progresses in the last two years, but now there is a significant regress; 63 percent of the surveyed companies are very unsatisfied by the activity of the current Government.

The German companies are also unsatisfied by the legal stability, especially by the fiscal measures forecasted for this year, by the public administration and especially, by infrastructure.

As in the other ECE states, an issue is represented also by the lack of qualified personnel. The infrastructure, which comprises transports, communications and energy, is negative. Romania is on the last position from the region in this field, as 60 percent of the surveyed are unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. The road infrastructure needs to be expanded and updated, as there is a great drawback in investments decisions.