Mariana Gheorghe, OMV: Government decisions were adopted without enough contribution from businesspeople
Mariana Gheorghe, president of the Foreign Investors Council and
CEO of OMV Petrom group, the biggest private Romanian company, says
predictability and transparency are of critical importance for the
business world, as they are the basic pre-conditions to attracting
investors.
The private sector has over the last few months been confounded by
measures such as the VAT hike by five per cent, implemented in just
a few days' time, the various rumours about raising the flat rate,
as well as about cutting it, levying tax on the fortunes of the
rich, raising VAT by a further percentage point.
"Consultations with the authorities are all the more important
since they allow for the legislation to be consolidated so as to
cater both to the needs of the authorities, and of the business
community. More often than not legislation, especially fiscal
legislation, has been adopted urgently, so businesspeople did not
have the time to contribute enough," said Mariana Gheorghe.
The Foreign Investors Council is an association of the leading
foreign investors in Romania, which currently has 118 member
companies, whose cumulated investments amount to around 30 billion
euros, i.e. almost two thirds of overall foreign direct investments
conducted in Romania from 1990 until the present.