Activity of the Romanian industry, “decreasing”

The National Institute of Statistics registered negative reports for April compared to March, an indication that the activity in the Romanian industry is dwindling.

The business quota and the demand are smaller.

The construction sector, however, gives signs of recovery, with considerably consistent increases after the decline in recent years. Romanian businessmen are really optimistic about the future but have reserves in the context of the international economy. Their optimism is based on the small entrepreneurial sector, which has matured, especially under the pressure of the current recession.

Aurel Saramet, president of the National Fund for Credits for IMMs, said that the payments the institution has made in the last 5 months for funds used by the state to guarantee bank loans have dropped by 35 per cent compared to the same period last year, which indicates that the business environment has more or less made progress and acquired a certain stability.

On the other hand, Aurel Saramet has stressed a worrying factor.

” I am, however, worried about something else. The fact that more and more IMMs are emerging and don’t have any certified conditions that guarantee their long-term existence is something that worries me and I believe that if we don’t take any measure now it will be more difficult in the future, and many times the unremunerated providers are the ones who declare these insolvencies . Someone is cashing in on them ” believes Aurel Saramet.

The number of insolvencies is continuing to get bigger. More and more entrepreneurs are in the situation where they can’t pay their providers, and credits are harder and harder to get.

IMMs should be more daring

He also believes that if IMMs were more daring they would be taking more risks and generate an increase of the PIB by 1.5-2.

At the same time, the state should support more firmly the capacity of these institutions to take over the banks’ risks, namely the insurance and counter guarantee mechanisms.

The solutions to overcome insolvencies depend on the communication between IMMs, providers and the Government, added Aurel Saramet.

Florin Pogonaru, the president of the Association of Businessmen in Romania, estimates that this year the economic growth engine will be represented for the most part by exports, in so far as Europe doesn’t experience any shock, and infrastructure investments.

Good news may come from other sectors.

” This year there is good news coming from the agricultural sector. There is good news from a series of areas, like the resumption of the Prima Casa programme. This good news is up to the expectations of entrepreneurs, who think that, well, they have to do something. After all, they can see that this tendency is gaining ground in business environments, which is a very good thing, and there is other good news too.

There is good news about an unpredictable Europe unable to find solutions, so we’re looking again at the two contagions, as I call them, that are a threat and that we’re stuck in and that Europe needs to solve ” he thinks.

Therefore, the priority in Romania’s foreign agenda needs to be the supporting of the unified European system in terms of financial readjustments, is the opinion if the Association of Businessmen in Romania with respect to the solutions that may save our country in the future from the effects from other European countries that are struggling with financial problems.

Translated by
Vlad Nichita
MTTLC, Bucharest University