Press Review - July 20, 2017

07.20.2017 By Oana Gavrila

2.7 Earthquake in Buzau County

An earthquake of 2.7 degrees magnitude on the Richter scale took place Wednesday afternoon in Buzau county.

The tremble originated at a depth of 118 kilometers.

A similar quake, of 2.6 degrees on the Richter scale, occurred in Buzau county Sunday evening.

The biggest quake registered in Romania this year was on February 8  in Vrancea county. It was measured at 5 degrees on the Richter scale and was felt all the way to Bucharest.

IT Industry in Brasov Going Down on Talent Shortage, Lack of Infrastructure

Apple and Amazon considered opening offices in the Romanian city of Brasov but lacked infrastructure and specialized workforce and the city is losing ground in the IT sector after hosting businesses totaling over RON630 million.

In the past four years, 130 new companies opened IT businesses in Brasov, reaching a total of 550 companies, which have a turnover of RON630 million, profits of RON75 million and employ around 5,000 people, according to data from the Cluster for Innovation and Technology ALT Brasov.

ALT president Ionut Tata said Bucharest has over 50% of the local industry by number of companies and number of employees, Cluj holds about 10%, and Timisoara holds about 5%, while Brasov and Iasi have always shared the fourth place.

“There are clients coming from abroad but hey drop their plans when they see they can't find 2–3,000 people to hire,” says Florin Rebic, general manager of the company managing Coresi Business Park in Brasov.

For instance, Amazon considered Brasov for a service center that would have employed 1,500–2,000 people, but didn't find staff and went to Iasi and rented 12,000 sqm of office space, he said.

Japan FM Says Romania Is Attractive for Japanese Business

Japanese companies in the UK consider relocating their businesses to Romania, in the context of Brexit and due to the economic growth registered by Romania, but are calling on the government to ensure a predictable economic environment.

Prime Minister Mihai Tudose met with Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nobuo Kishi, on Wednesday, at the Romanian government’s headquarters.

The Japanese official also had a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Government Seeks to Raise Taxes for 1 Million Part-Time Employees

The government plans to raise taxes starting August for one million employees working part-time, saying there are employers resorting to part-time contracts to pay fewer taxes but employees actually work full-time.

The government plans to tax part-time work the same as full-time and minimum wage work.

“The state, through the tax authority and labor inspectorate, has ways to determine who observes the law and who doesn't and taxing all employers with part-time employees is abusive. It is unfair,” said Dragos Petrescu, owner of the City Grill restaurant chain.

According to ZF calculations, collections to the state budget would grow by RON2.5 to 7.6 billion a year if the government taxes part-time work the same as full-time work.

Government Will Send Administration Code to Parliament

The government will send the code regulating public administration to Parliament in September, said regional development minister Sevil Shhaideh.

She said there are no plans to scrap a provision that would allow people with previous criminal convictions to be part of the government.

The draft code states people who have been convicted under the criminal code but have since been rehabilitated may hold office in the government.