MAZARS FORUM 2014Bucharest, March 27, 2014

IS ROMANIA GOING TO HAVE THE HIGHEST ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EUROPE IN 2014?CEOs and finance executives from multinational organizations and top local businesses joined THE MAZARS FORUM 2014 to learn how the Romanian economy and business environment will be reshaped in 2014. High-level panelists from the banking, energy, construction and IT services sectors shared their opinions on the current playing field and their vision regarding Romania’s future economic performance.

With a GDP growth in annual terms of more than five percent in Q4 2013, the highest in the last five years, the Romanian economy seems to be recovering from recession. This advance is renewing confidence among foreign investors. Nevertheless, the local environment remains under the sign of uncertainty, mainly because of an unpredictable legal framework, which might affect efforts to maintain the 2013 momentum.  MAZARS FORUM panelists explored the current state of various playing fields and emphasized the need for more discipline and consistency in the decision-making process, as well as a more mature attitude of the authorities’ representatives in their interaction with the business community. The tone of the debate

remained optimistic: Romania continues to be a very attractive market for investors. A winning combination of several critical factors - skills, work, ethics and a cultural fit, largely contribute to that.  However, the country needs to better market itself in order to compete with other economies in a tough run to attract foreign investments. The debate also covered the current geopolitical aspects that keep the regional leaders’ agenda filled, including the crisis in Ukraine and the way in which these tensions affect businesses and strategic investment decisions.

150 participants

Having been asked about their perspective on the economy and the changes they would like to see in 2014, the panelists present at MAZARS FORUM stated:

Rozália Pál, Chief Economist of Garanti Bank RomaniaWe are seeing improvement in consumption and investments. Consumption is getting back on track. Retail sales increased in December and January, for the first two months after a whole year of stagnation in 2013.

Investments are the most important thing and this has to do with image and credibility. I would like to see us get back to an annual investment level of 2-3 billion euro.

Eric Stab, Chairman & CEO GDF SUEZ Energy Romania and Eastern EuropeAfter experiences such as those with tax adjustments or sudden changes in the regulatory schemes, it will be very difficult to keep attracting capital. Romania is in competition with many other countries for this capital. Decision makers need to understand this.

I would really like to see more stability. Now, it is important to restore confidence and trust.

Costin Borc, CEO Lafarge Romania

I think we are very far from stability. We wake up every morning and hear about something new happening. It is part of a CEO’s job and we have got used to it.

2014 will be a year of success if everything that we hear about EU funds absorption and everything we hear about important projects starts to become reality. We need to see projects and financing starting to run.

Dorin Badea, Managing Director Dell Services Romania2014 has the potential to be a very emotional year. There are many reasons, whether internal or external, for emotions.

I would love to see authorities and representatives from the state agencies understand what we do and who the businesses that they serve are. I would like to see the government going one notch up in being a professiona institution rather than a tax-collecting government.

Panelists’ debate

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We shall be pleased to welcome you to the 2015 edition of Mazars Forum