CCIR: 35 pc companies to shut down because of minimum tax

Approximately 35 per cent of existing companies will shut down because of the introduction of the minimum tax, the Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, Sorin Dimitriu, stated at a conference on the lump sum tax subject, yesterday, according to Agerpres. ‘Out of a total of over 600,000 SMEs, only 12,000 actually contribute to the state budget and their contribution represents 85 per cent of the state budget collections. Following the new minimum tax, approximately 35 per cent of existing companies will disappear. More than 200,000 companies have no revenues, pay no contributions to the state, but do operate’, said Sorin Dimitriu. On the other hand, the social security budget has a deficit and we feed it from the state budget’, Iordache said. The Government will evaluate the impact of the minimum tax on companies and make a decision as to keeping or abrogating it according to the economic trend, PM Emil Boc said yesterday. He also pointed out the new tax was meant to work against tax evasion and not intended to be a para-fiscal measure, Mediafax informs.

Banks: Improving collections performance worth 1–2 billion RON

With mounting losses and provisioning costs negatively impacting earnings and threatening capitalization levels, it is unsurprising that banks must focus their attention on debt restructuring and collections, a press release informs. Banks should invest into capabilities to improve their collections performance as the prize could be quite high – 1-2 billion RON across the industry in retail collections alone according to Robert Maciejko, Managing Director of and Head of Central and Eastern Europe with Oliver Wyman. Bad assets are growing quickly in Romania. Market expectations for non-performing loans (NPLs) by end of 2009 range from 10 to 20%. With mounting losses and provisioning costs negatively impacting earnings and threatening capitalization levels, it is unsurprising that banks must focus their attention on debt restructuring and collections. During stress periods, however, all institutions struggle to manage their delinquency rates and improve their collection processes according to Oliver Wyman. The report, “Collections operations – From insight to results”, has found that even well-managed banks with cautious credit underwriting policies suffer from spectacular delinquency rate growth and must adapt their course of action.

Hotel Radisson SAS in Bucharest –“Best Hotel Project of the Year 2008”

The Hotel Radisson SAS in Bucharest was selected as the “Best Hotel Project of the Year 2008” in Southeastern Europe and nominated for the Business Superbrands Program, a press release sent to Nine O’Clock announces. The Hotel won the category “Best Hotel Project of the Year 2008” at the Southeastern European Real Estate Awards, a gala recently organized by the real estate information and analyses site EuropaProperty. By this award, Radisson SAS joined other twelve companies that reached outstanding results and other successful real estate projects in Southeastern Europe, winners of the SEE Real Estate Awards. The same hotel was appreciated for its manner of promoting itself as an important brand on the Romanian market. This fact brought its inclusion in the “Brands to Watch” of the Romania Business Superbrands Program.

Software piracy in Romania has decreased 2 p.c. during 2008

PC software piracy rate decreased by two percent points in 2008 compared to the previous year, from 68 p.c. to 66 p.c., while industry losses rose by 65 p.c., up to USD 249 mln, writes a report posted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) on its official web site. “This report shows the impact that efforts for curbing software piracy have in Romania. In the present conditions of economic uncertainty, it is a vital behavior for companies not to elude the law by using unlicensed software, as such a behavior would increase the risk of negative impact upon businesses and consumers, as well as upon the local and global economy,” said lawyer Magda Popescu, the representative of BSA in Romania.

Deputies approve Brasov-Ghimbav International Airport project

The Deputies adopted yesterday the bill for the approval of OUG no. 41/2007 regarding the shifting of a land from the public domain of the state and the administration of the National Research-Development Institute for potato and beet from Brasov into the public domain of Brasov County and under the administration of Brasov County Council, for the construction of Brasov-Ghimbav International Airport, Agerpres informs. 200 Deputies were favourable to the legislative project, while five voted for its rejection.The report also stresses that if the airport is not built within five years, the surface of land will go lawfully into the public domain of the state and under the administration of the National Research and Development Institute for potato and sugar beet Brasov.

WMW Bacau and EADS, partners in aeronautics

The Bacau-based World Machinery Works (WMW) will manufacture Ariane 5 rocket component equipment for the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space (EADS), Europe’s largest aerospace and defence company, Mediafax reports. The Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors at WMW Bacau, Gabriel Carciumaru, said that the company was chosen to participate in the most important European aerospace project. The contract runs through July 2010, but can be extended beyond that date.