Alexandru Mitroi, Invest Romania: “This year will be a difficult one in terms of attracting foreign investments in Romania”

“After a year 2022 with a record of foreign investments in Romania and a total of 10 billion euros in foreign direct investments, in the last two years investments have decreased and there are some explanations related to the international context.

In the last 12 months, with the exception of Italy, the countries in the G7 group have gone through periods with presidential or parliamentary elections, and large companies have tended to put many investments on standby,” Alexandru Mitroi, Senior Adviser, Invest Romania said at Automotive R&D Conference organized by Automotive Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• This year will be a difficult one in terms of attracting foreign investments in Romania. Most of the investors we talk to are still in a standby period and are waiting for things to become clearer in terms of trade policies and want to see how the main currencies are positioned globally.
• Countries with a stronger currency could make investments in countries with weaker currencies, this being a trend that we could see this year and next year.
• After periods of crisis, periods of strong economic recovery usually follow. If this year will be difficult for automotive production, next year should be a recovery year for the industry.
• In the last 5 years, the semiconductor market has doubled in Romania, with NXP Semiconductors having a 50% share of this market. We recently organized a visit of a major company that produces semiconductors for several industries, including automotive, and this company has development projects.
• Following the discussions we have with companies; I believe that we will have a slight increase in demand for state aid schemes in 2025 compared to last year.
• The fiscal measures introduced by the Government since 2014 are not enough to support the industry and R&D