The first quarter in numbers

• January 1st

- Mandatory electronic invoicing comes into force for all transactions made between taxable persons established on the territory of the country. The measure is applicable until December 31, 2026.

• January 9th

- Hundreds of farmers are moving to the Capital, dissatisfied with the fiscal measures imposed by the Government at the end of last year and the generalization, starting from January 1, 2024, of the Ro e-Invoice and Ro e-Transport digital reporting systems, as well as the increase in excise duties for fuels and RCA tariffs.

• January 11th

- The European Commission approves a state aid scheme notified by Romania in the amount of 126 million euros to support investments in ports facing an increase in trade flows as a result of the war started by Russia against Ukraine.

- The executive adopts a memorandum on the basis of which employment was unlocked for 1,055 positions in Health.

• January 18th

- The bonds issued by the Cluj County Council make their debut on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The bond issue took place within a private placement, concluded in December 2023. The amount raised from investors was 76 million euros.

• January 25th

- The government modifies some provisions regarding the application of the tariff for the use of the national road network (rovinieta), for the period up to January 1, 2026.

• January 30th

- The Ministry of Finance announces that the execution of the general consolidated budget for 2023 ended with a deficit of 89.90 billion lei, respectively 5.68% of GDP, compared to 80.77 billion lei, respectively 5.76% of GDP in 2022.

- There is a cyber attack that managed to break the databases of the Chamber of Deputies and copy 316 files, some containing personal data of the parliamentarians, including contracts or medical records.

• January 31st

- The Government approves an emergency ordinance by which it decides to extend the capping of the commercial addition to 14 basic foods, a measure established for 90 days by GEO 67/2023 and then extended for another 90 days at the end of October last year.

• February 1st

- The Ministry of Finance publishes the ANAF balance sheet for the year 2023, showing that undeclared tax obligations of 10.62 billion lei were identified, over 70% of which were generated in the field of manufacturing industries, trade (wholesale and retail), vehicle and motorcycle repair , and constructions.

- The Government adopts a memorandum authorizing the Ministry of Finance to contract legal assistance and representation services in order to ensure the representation of our country in the case pending before the Francophone Court of First Instance in Brussels, in which the company Pfizer - BioNTech sued Romania for payment to all anti-Covid vaccines purchased as part of the European Union supply contract, signed in 2021. In this file, Pfizer asks the Bucharest government to pay 564 million euros for the 28.94 million vaccines ordered.

• February 13th

- The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania decides the following: maintaining the monetary policy interest rate at the level of 7% per year; maintaining the interest rate for the credit facility (Lombard) at 8% per year and the interest rate for the deposit facility at 6% per year; maintaining the current levels of the mandatory minimum reserve rates for liabilities in lei and in foreign currency of credit institutions.

• February 16th

- The government decides to grant restructuring state aid in the form of a grant to the Oltenia Energetic Complex SA company to finance the purchase of greenhouse gas emission certificates in 2024, in the amount of 386.63 million lei.

• February 21th

- The governing coalition PSD-PNL decides to combine the local elections with the European parliamentary elections and advance the presidential elections. Thus, on June 9 the European and local elections will take place, on September 8 and 22 - the two rounds of the presidential elections, and on December 8 the parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place.

• February 26th

- Marius Voineag, chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) presents the balance sheet of the institution's activity for the year 2023, from which it follows that the number of solved cases increased by approximately 10% last year, compared to the year 2022, reaching 2,259.

• February 28th

- The government approves an emergency ordinance by which it ensures, in the future, to people from vulnerable categories, the right to help for heating the home and to the supplement for energy, for the remaining period of the cold season.

• 1st of March

- Fitch rating agency reconfirms Romania's government debt rating at BBB-/F3 for long-term and short-term foreign currency debt, as well as the stable outlook.

- The National Bank of Romania (BNR) announces that, on February 29, 2024, the foreign exchange reserves at the National Bank of Romania stood at 63,128 million euros, compared to 61,416 million euros on January 31, 2024. The level of the gold reserve remained at 103.6 tons. Under the conditions of international price developments, its value was 6,240 million euros. Romania's international reserves (currency plus gold) on February 29, 2024 were 69,368 million euros, compared to 67,685 million euros on January 31, 2024.

• March 8th

- The international arbitration court attached to the World Bank (International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes - ICSID) decides to reject the action initiated by the Gabriel Resources company in the Roşia Montană file, implicitly rejecting the requested compensation of over six billion dollars and obliging the respective company to reimburse Romania the court costs related to the arbitration procedure.

• March 12th

- President Klaus Iohannis declares that he wants to become Secretary General of NATO, after this position will remain vacant at the end of Jens Stoltenberg's mandate.

• March 15th

- The BNR announces that, in January 2024, the current account of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of 1,358 million euros, compared to 760 million euros in January 2023. In its structure, the balance of goods recorded a smaller deficit of 229 million euro, the balance of services - a surplus smaller by 351 million euros, the balance of primary revenues - a deficit of 376 million euros, compared to a surplus of 27 million euros in January 2023, and the balance of secondary revenues - a smaller surplus by 72 million euro.

• March 20th

- European Commission officials, who came to Bucharest, present the annual progress report of our country regarding the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, declaring that, if the PSD-PNL government does not make the reforms assumed in the PNRR, Romania's budget deficit will jump 7% of GDP at the end of 2024.

• March 25th

- The European Commission shows in a report that, despite some improvements, Romania still faces the vulnerability of fiscal revenues, and the large budget deficits and the high inflation rate, which are all above pre-pandemic levels, make the national economy potentially vulnerable to shocks.

• March 26th

- The Ministry of Finance announces that the budget deficit rose to 28.99 billion lei after the first two months of this year (1.67% of GDP), from 17.04 billion lei (1.07%) in the same period of the year last.

• March 29th

- The BET index, which captures the dynamics of the 20 most liquid securities of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), appreciated by 10.8% in the first quarter of 2024, to 17,026 points, while the BET-BK index, the benchmark of yield of investment funds in shares, rose by 7.9%, up to 3,116 points.

- The BET-XT index, of the 30 most liquid securities of our market, appreciated by 9.8% in the first three months of the year, up to 1,453 points.

- In the case of energy producers, the biggest share price appreciation in the first quarter was OMV Petrom, with an advance of 17.2%.

- Romgaz shares appreciated by 12%, in the context in which the company reported a double net profit for the last months of 2023.

- Aquila shares rose by 34.8% in the first three months of the year, continuing the upward trend of last year.

- Sphera Franchise Group shares rose 14% in the first quarter, with the company reporting a 60% increase in profit for the last three months of 2023.

- Digi Communications shares appreciated by 13.6% in the first three months of the year, Transport Trade Services shares - by 6.7%, Purcari Wineries shares - by 6.4%.

- The BET-FI index, of SIFs plus Fondul Proprietatea, had an increase of 2.5% in the first quarter, to 60,771 points, recording the weakest evolution among BVB indices.