Two thirds of foreign investors plan to establish or extend their operations in Romania this year, compared to only 27 pct in 2020, according to the EY Romania Attractiveness Survey, sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.
"Romania recorded the highest increase in GDP in the European Union in the first quarter of 2021, yet the challenge is not yet overcome. The pandemic had a powerful impact on global economic trends, provoking modifications of investment plans and changing the factors that the business leaders take into account when evaluating investment destinations. In order to generate durable and healthy economic growth, Romania must be perceived as a stable and attractive destination for investments," said Bogdan Ion, Country Managing Partner, EY Romania and Moldova and Chief Operating Officer for EY Central and Southeastern Europe and the Central Asian region.
For 2021, most investors polled (75 pct) stated that their investment plans are no longer influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and five large cities (Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi) represent the destination for nearly 70 pct of all FDI projects this year.
In the coming 12 months, 66 pct of investors interviewed plan to establish or expand operations in Romania (over the European average of 41 pct), compared to only 27 pct in 2020. In the long term, 41 pct of investors believe that Romania's attractiveness will increase after the pandemic, and the main priorities should be: supporting SMEs (36 pct), encouraging environmental protection policies and attitudes (33 pct) and increasing the quality of products and the added value of services (31 pct).
In Romania, the FDI drop was significant, but the country' capacities in the IT sector, the logistics projects and the development projects in retail have attracted investors, 57 projects being recorded in 2020, which have generated nearly 2000 new jobs, according to the EY Romania Attractiveness Survey.
In 2020, in keeping with the European market in general, the software and IT services sector in Romania drew the largest number of FDI projects, with a market share of 32 pct. The sector of wholesale, retail and distribution came in second, with a market share of 18 pct. The sector that generated the largest number of jobs (1000), occupying third place, is the electronics industry.
In what regards the types of investment projects, logistics dominate the FDI arena, totaling nearly a third of projects announced for 2021. The sales and marketing projects come in second, and in third, surprisingly, are research-development projects. This final type of activity demonstrates a new interest on the part of foreign investors towards this domain, given that Romania did not attract many research-development projects in the previous years.
As part of the EY's attractiveness survey for Romania, the research in the field was done by Euromoney between March 2 and 31 through online interviews with 101 leaders of relevant international companies, of which 50 pct are already established in Romania, while 50 pct are established outside Romania.
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