The Romanian Businesspeople Association (AOAR) yesterday requested the Government to endorse a series of measures to support Romanian capital and investors. The Association representatives say the authorities are paying more attention to foreign investors while the Romanian capital has turned into Romania’s Cinderella.
“Romania certainly needs foreign investors, yet the domestic investors must not be overlooked. If foreign investors are in trouble, they go to their country’s ambassador, are seen by governmental officials and their problems become known to the authorities. The Romanian entrepreneurs have no ambassador to defend their interests before the Government,” stated Cristian Parvan, general secretary of AOAR, one of the most powerful businesspeople associations in Romania. According to Parvan, if energy keeps becoming more expensive, wages go up given the upcoming EU accession and the companies have to make quality and environment protection-related investments, the future of the Romanian capital is far from bright. “We need the Government to think about all these things and be more supportive of the domestic entrepreneurs particularly because economists warn that without a Romanian industry growth, a Gross Domestic Product growth and a smooth balance of trade are hard to attain,” Parvan said. AOAR requested the Government to introduce provisions in the fiscal legislation that would allow for an increase in the indebtedness level from the current 1 to 3-5 as of 2004. “The current fiscal policy does not take the real situation into account, i.e. that the Romanian companies are undercapitalised,” Parvan added. At the same time, the Association believes the authorities should make it easier for Romanian entrepreneurs to get non-governmental loans, which they need to upgrade their equipment, given that National Bank of Romania’s policy to rise the benchmark interest from 18.25% to 21.25% throughout August-November 2003, has limited the business people’s access to banking loans. “The authorities need to bear in mind that, unlike the foreign companies that can borrow both in Romania and abroad, the Romanian companies have a rather limited access to foreign capital,” AOAR’s general secretary explained. AOAR is also in favour of handing the industrial companies that could not be privatised for lack of bidders to the Romanian businesspeople with a proven managerial success record to try to put them to good use. “Before dismantling those companies for scrap iron, the business people should be consulted to see if they can make something out of them,” Parvan says. He explained the Association had requested the Privatisation Authority to provide a list of all those companies not privatised for lack of bidders, clearly detailing their situation so that the businesspeople could knowingly analyse a possible takeover of the facilities in question. miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro