♦ Romania needs competitiveness, to continue to attract investments and to grow business ♦ «We started an investment last year, in July, of 120 million euros. I spent 40 in six months and I still have 80 to spend this year» ♦ «The opportunities – investments from EU funds, construction of highways, accession to Schengen and the American Visa Waiver – are greater than the risks.» The budget deficit target of 7% of GDP will be reached in 2025, i.e. a decrease from around 8.6% of GDP in 2024, said Finance Minister Tánczos Barna, at the ZF/Deloitte Romania video conference «Impact of Fiscal and Budgetary Changes on the economy». There will be no more tax increases this year, the minister said, and the budget will close on the current fiscal framework. He also added, the opportunities for Romania's economy are greater in 2025 than the risks: accession to Schengen, the American visa program, «We will fall within the percentage of 7% of GDP as a deficit in 2025. This is the objective and we will respect it without changing other taxes and fees in 2025. We do not increase VAT and we do not change the tax on the income of natural persons. We are going to build the budget on the current taxation system. We have no other modified taxes in 2025», said Tanczos Barna. The business environment in Romania needs to be strong in 2025, said the speakers of the conference, among whom were representatives of the business environment in Romania, together with the tax specialists of Deloitte Romania. The resilience of the real economy is important, and the opportunities are greater than the risks.
«We believe that taxes should not increase. The economic environment drives economic growth and society in general. We need to keep our competitiveness, especially considering the regional and global context. We see that the European Union is facing certain problems, most of the investors in Romania come from the EU and I think it is important to maintain our competitiveness as a country», said Vlad Boeriu, partner coordinating fiscal and legal services, Deloitte Romania. The Marcel Ciolacu 2 government came to the end of 2024 with the «train» ordinance, which contains several specific measures for the year 2025. On the budget expenditure side, the law freezes the salaries of budget workers and public pensions. On the income side, tax facilities in IT, construction or agriculture were eliminated, the tax threshold for micro-enterprises was reduced by half and the tax on dividends was increased to 10%. «The entrepreneurs want to know, what I also asked the minister, is what tax increases we should expect, because yes, the business environment has, let's say, a fear that all these calculations will not be realized. Although we want the tax changes to be announced six months in advance, as the law says, we always expect them between Christmas and New Year's Eve, as happened this year as well», said Alexandra Smedoiu, tax services partner, Deloitte Romania.
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