Romania sees 7.4% y/y dip in new foreign-owned firms in Q1

The foreign capital of the new companies jumped by 48.4% to $10.23 million (9.48 million euro) in the review period, according to data published by ONRC last week.

In March alone, 591 companies financed with foreign capital were registered in Romania, down 5.7% on the year.

Most new companies established in March were active in wholesale and retail trade, car and motorcycle repairs (29.1%), professional, administrative, scientific, and technical activities (21.7%), as well as transport, storage and communications (16.6%).

Financial brokerage and insurance companies accounted for 73.3% of the share capital of foreign-owned companies established in March. Wholesale and retail trade along with car and motorcycle repairs companies followed with a share of 9.9%, while construction companies came in third, accounting for 6.4%.

As of the end of March, Romania hosted 252,901 foreign-owned companies with a total capital of $70.257 billion. Italian investors held the largest number, with 52,981 companies. Despite their smaller number of 6,134 entities, Dutch investment remained at the top in terms of share capital, contributing $13.063 billion or 20% of the total aggregate.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Romania in the first two months of 2024 fell by 8.6% on the year to 1.229 billion euro, data from the country’s central bank has shown.

The Foreign Investors Council in Romania (FIC) said in November that investor sentiment deteriorated significantly in the autumn of 2023, with only a third of surveyed investors considering the Romanian market attractive as a result of fiscal policy measures.

($=0.9266 euro)