The government has lowered the tax on banks’ financial assets and decoupled it from money market rates, a link that hindered monetary policy. The level of the tax is now conditional on market share and the tax base has been reduced, exempting some financial assets among which government treasuries, government-guaranteed lending programs, and loans to public administrations.
Under the new decree, the ROBOR index (Romanian Interbank Offer Rate), used as a reference in calculating variable interests on household loans, will be replaced by an indicator calculated based on actual interbank transactions. The new indicator will only be considered for new loan stock and would not apply to ongoing loans.
The government pushed ahead with amendments to the bank tax without an opinion from the European Central Bank, which told Mediafax Thursday it needed more time to assess the proposed changes.
The new decree also postpones the enforcement of additional share capital requirements for administrators of mandatory private pension funds, known as Pillar II, until end-May.
In the energy sector, the decree exempts state-owned thermal and coal-fired power plants from a 2% turnover tax. It keeps the tax for other energy producers and caps electricity and natural gas prices for households and some industrial consumers until end-February 2022.
For the telecom sector, the decree postpones until September 1 the enforcing of penalties for mobile telephony operators lacking certain permits.