The hundreds of thousands of SMEs in Romania account for 99% of all active companies, employ two-thirds of Romania's workforce and generate over half of the gross value added of the economy, presidential advisor Radu Burnete told the "National Top of Private Companies in Romania" event organised by IMM (SME) Romania, on Monday.
"The hundreds of thousands of SMEs in Romania represent 99% of the active companies in our country, employing two-thirds of our workforce and generating over half of the gross value added in the economy, so when we talk about SMEs, we are not talking about a sector, as I often hear, we are talking about our economy itself (...) However, despite these exhortations that we tell ourselves, we must also be realistic, and in order to be that we need to rely on figures. I looked at a survey that you do every year in which you ask how much confidence entrepreneurs have in the Romanian economy - and I hope I am not wrong, but in 2023, 61% of the entrepreneurs had confidence that the economy would evolve well, in 2024 50%, and in 2025 only 34%. These are some figures that worry me and also worries the president (Nicusor Dan - editor's note). The question is: What is happening, have entrepreneurs become more pessimistic or is there something else?" said Radu Burnete.
He referred to the lack of fiscal predictability, bureaucracy and emphasised that almost half of the SMEs in Romania are self-financed.
"The response of the presidential administration and of the president is that something else is at stake - and let me point out three things that you know very well. The first of them is the lack of fiscal predictability. If every few months you have to redo your business plan, recalculate costs, salaries, contracts and so on, what future plans can you make as an entrepreneur? (...) We trust that, with the 2026 budget, this government will bring more predictability, because I am sure that it will be a much better-built budget. The second challenge you have, bureaucracy. Unlike large companies that have entire departments to deal with bureaucratic procedures, you do not allow yourself this luxury. The other day, the president said that we must be faster and simplify if we want to be competitive in relation to entrepreneurs from Poland or Hungary. The third thing I would point out is related to financing. Almost half of the SMEs in Romania, so almost half of those in this room, are self-financed. Of course, in this self-financing we can also see a dose of entrepreneurial heroism, right? That we do our best to self-finance, efforts - and so on. But, in reality, it shows us that we have an underdeveloped capital market, a banking system that does not finance SMEs sufficiently, for several reasons. Why am I telling you these three things? Not because you do not know them, but because president Nicusor Dan is also aware of these problems, and os is the government, and I wish that, if in a year, the president or I will be here again, I could tell you that we have progressed and that that the 34% has started to grow again and is heading towards 66%," said Radu Burnete.
At the same time, he underscored that a real dialogue is needed in this regard and signaled that the public administration also needs to change.
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