Publicat pe 18/11/2019

Bucharest, November 18^th, 2019: The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR) was Monday, November 18^th, the host of the conference organized by the Competition Council, “Competitive environment and competitiveness in key sectors of the Romanian economy”. The main objective of the conference was to promote the results of the monitoring actions of the main markets in Romania, as well as to underline the importance of increasing the degree of competitiveness in the business environment.

During the event, the eleventh edition of the report of the Competition Council, entitled “Evolution of competition in key sectors”, was presented. The report is constituted as a tool for analyzing the degree of competition in some areas of the Romanian economy and includes a summary of recent developments of the main indicators of the national economy. At the same time, the report also contains an analysis of the main factors that led to the change in consumer goods prices during 2019, as well as an assessment of the degree of convergence of prices relative to the European average.

“We, from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, are very concerned about the framework in which the economy operates, competition being a determining element in this context, together with the fiscal code and economic diplomacy. In any analysis or project, the most important thing is to start from the realities, it is very important to be aware of the level we are in and to find together new solutions for the development of Romania, from the economic and social point of view. So, when we talk about economic growth, we refer strictly to those who submitted the balance sheet to the tax authorities, so we start from exact figures given by the state institutions. We have done analyzes on the net turnover, the operating profit, the operating profit rate, the efficiency of the use of human capital and the efficiency of the employed personnel, all these things show that there is a sustainable growth. But what concerns us most is the growth of GDP, which should also be sustainable, because in the definition of GDP there are other actors that have a defining role”, stated the president of CCIR, Mr. Mihai Daraban.

“The synergy between competitiveness, competition and social good is highly dependent on institutional reform. If we want to increase the performance of the economy in the long term, it is not enough for only private companies to make efforts for this, but also for the institutions to know how to calibrate their dosage in terms of the quality of the interventions. This thesis of the institutions for a good market economy has a great support in the economic environment. I would like to point out that I do not only consider the government institutions, but I refer to all the institutions of the market economy, and, in this respect, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania is peremptory evidence. The quality of the institutions directly and indirectly conditions the economic development. The existence of strong institutions is the best indicator of a structural development and the capacity of a state to create long-term welfare”, said the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mr. Mugur Isarescu.

“In order to maintain the degree of competition in our markets and for their correct functioning, we must first of all remain an economy open to new, to innovation and here I am referring to the increase of the degree of digitization. Later, a restructuring of state-owned companies is needed, especially those with losses in the energy or transport area. This restructuring must be a priority. At the same time, efforts must be made to clean and simplify the Romanian legislation by certain costs incurred by the companies. The functioning of the public administration is another basic element in terms of a sustainable economy. While the Romanian economy has improved, unfortunately, the capacity of the public administration functionality has lagged behind”, said the President of the Competition Council, Mr. Bogdan Chirițoiu.

Background

In the “Report on the evolution of competition in key sectors”, issued by the Competition Council, the main points of the competition policy of 2019 are presented, as well as a summary of the recent developments of the main indicators of the national economy. The investigations target key sectors of the Romanian economy (cement, eggs, immunoglobulins, hydro energy) and the final result of important surveys in areas such as retail, insurance, tourism, telecom, drilling, online trade, gas and fuel.