Statistics show that 300 companies are being registered daily in Romania, but most of them are micro-enterprises.
Almost 93,000 companies were registered in the first ten months of last year, up 33% from the year-ago period, according to the preliminary data released by the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC). This means that 300 new companies are registered every day.
Considering this fast-paced growth, the number of companies registered in 2003 may have exceeded 100,000, for the first time in the past nine years.
However, the value of these companies' capital is actually four times smaller than the level logged in 2002: some 420 million euros in January-October 2003, down from the 1.67bn euros posted in the same period of 2002. In fact, the capital subscribed in only one month of 2020 (March) exceeds the entire amount registered for 2003.
The average capital of a newly-registered company has dropped from 746 million ROL (in the first ten months of 2002), down to 170 million ROL (in the same period of 2003).
This phenomenon may be partially grounded on the large number of micro-enterprises established as limited liability companies, with the minimum capital required by the law, that is 2 million ROL.
"The reason why so many companies were established with only the minimum capital is not connected to the business projects, but to the fiscal optimisation. Most of the new companies were most likely established with the tax regulations for micro-enterprises in mind (1.5% tax on the turnover)," says Florian Nitu, a partner with the law firm Popovici and Asociatii.
Increasingly more micro-enterprises are being established and even the large companies seem to support this. "Most of the large companies are encouraging their employees to set up micro-enterprises, which enables them to turn the work contracts of their staff (which trigger high costs) into service contracts, concluded with the micro-enterprises founded by the personnel (which offer the advantage of low costs, perhaps VAT, which can also be virtually deducted)," Nitu explained.
Most companies were registered in Bucharest last year - 16,200, followed by Cluj (4,400), Constanta (4,100), Bihor (3,500), Brasov (3,300), Prahova and Timis (both with 3,500).
Of the 93,000 companies established in the first ten months of last year, 62,000 have been registered as trading companies, whereas 30,500 were family associations or authorised natural persons.
Bihor is among the few counties where the number of family associations and authorised persons exceeds the number of registered trading companies. Among the 3,500 companies set up in Bihor County last year, more than 2,000 were family associations and natural persons.
Most of the new companies were registered in June, July and October 2003. The Trade Registry logged 12,300 new companies last October, most of them based in Bucharest, Neamt and Constanta.
The new entrepreneurs are chiefly interested in retail or wholesale trade, which is followed by the food industry, agriculture and transportation.
georgiana.stavarache@zf.ro
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