Around 650,000 companies are registered in Romania, but almost 200,000 of these do not have as yet their financial reports for 2013 among Trade Registry data. The situation is similar in the case of foreign companies. Out of the 192,000 foreign-held companies registered in Romania in 2013, just one third are present in the Trade Registry’s database with a report for 2013. The 63,000 foreign-held companies generated revenue of 554 billion lei (EUR125 billion) in 2013.
Foreigners have centered their investments in Bucharest and Ilfov, an area that cumulates 49% of the total number of foreign companies (93,000), in counties located at the borders with Hungary (Arad, Bihor and Timis), in Constanta, in Cluj and Brasov. These are as a matter of fact the only eight counties in Romania where the number of foreign-held companies goes beyond 5,000.
Another 14 counties are shunned by foreign investors, with the number of foreign-controlled companies not having reached at least 1,000. In Gorj and Vaslui, just 7% of the total number of companies are foreign-held, the lowest level in the local economy.
By the total number of companies in each county, Arad and Timis fare best, after Bucharest, a situation which once again proves how much infrastructure weighs in a company’s decision to invest on the local market. In the two counties, the weight of foreign companies in the total number of companies stands at 42% and 48%, respectively.
Dutch-registered investors lead by far in the ranking of foreign companies, with a weight of 12-13% (RON150 billion), in the total revenue of companies in Romania. However, the position of the Netherlands is explained by the high number of foreign companies that operate their businesses in Romania through companies registered in this country.
Dutch capital is followed by that of Germany, Austria, France and Cyprus, and the companies with shareholders in the five states generate around one third of local companies’ total revenue.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)