At the end of September, the Finnish group Nokia announced it would close down its production unit in Jucu, Cluj County, which happened in early December. Nokia had started manufacturing cell phones in Romania in 2008, with total investments standing at 60 million euros. The Finnish group had previously shut down its Research and Development Centre in Cluj-Napoca, laying off approximately 120 employees. “Nokia wants to direct its cell production to locations of optimal proximity for retailers and key markets. Accordingly, Nokia plans to shut down the factory in Cluj, since large volume production units in Asia are offering a better scale of operations and proximity benefits”, read a Nokia press release. In 2010, Nokia was Romania’s second largest exporter after carmaker Dacia Groupe Renault. 2,200 people were laid off when the factory in Jucu was closed down.lso in late September, the IMF’s Board of Directors approved the results of the second evaluation of Romania’s precautionary agreement, making a new installment, worth 480 million euros, available to our country. “There was a unanimous vote in favor of the second review of the agreement”, according to Mihai Tanasescu, Romania’s representative at the IMF. So far, funds made available to Romanian authorities for emergency situations account for over 1 billion euros. The new precautionary agreement with the IMF, worth 3.5 billion euros, comes together with a financial aid worth 1.4 billion euros from the EU, also for cases of emergency, as well as a 400-million-euro loan from the World Bank.
In early October, the Japanese auto wiring manufacturer Yazaki officially opened its production plant in the southern Romanian town of Caracal, to provide parts for the Ford plant in the nearby city of Craiova. Company representatives said they would hire an additional 400-500 people by the end of the year, adding up to the 600 people already employed at the plant. Yazaki’s Romanian branch was opened in 2003, with a facility then opening in Ploiesti. The Japanese manufacturer has invested over 85 million euros in Romania.
German auto parts manufacturer Continental also opened a new production plant in Romania, in late October, in the north-western town of Carei, adding to the already operating facilities in Timisoara and Sibiu. Continental has invested over 500 million euros in Romania, creating over 10,000 jobs.
On November the 2nd the board of Romania’s National Bank cut the monetary policy interest rate by 0.25 down to 6% in a bid to boost loaning and economic growth. Monetary policy interest rate had not been changed since May 2010. This interest rate cut came after consumption prices had gone down in September for the fourth month in a row, against the background of dropping food prices. The annual inflation rate had cleared the 3.45% threshold, the lowest level since 1990 ranging between the margins envisaged by the Romanian Central Bank for that year.
Also in early November, Greek group Olympus inaugurated a 55 million euro Greenfield investment, materialized into a dairy plant in Halchiu, Brasov county, central Romania. Almost 60% of this factory’s output is export-bound. “We believe in Romania and in the Romanian people, and that’s why we made here the biggest investment outside Greece. We consider this country of a strategic importance for our group, as a gateway towards European markets,” said the company CEO Dimitrios Sarantis.
On November the 15th British medicine producer GlaxoSmithKline finalized another investment in two new production lines at their facility in Brasov. The investment is expected to boost exports from 60% in 2011 to 74% this year. The biggest export markets for the facility in Brasov are France and Italy, which account for almost a quarter of the factory’s total exports.
On November the 17th French-owned company Filasa inaugurated 12 wind farms installed in nine communes in Suceava county, northern Romania, an investment standing at 780 million Euros. According to director general Bernard Esquirol, through this investment, the French company intends to make profit and contribute to meeting the EU objectives in the field of renewable energy.
On November the 29th, Standard&Poor’s rating agency confirmed Romania’s rating at BB+ with stable prospects. This reflects the agency’s belief that the Romanian government will continue to consolidate public finances in accordance with the envisaged target, while the new IMF agreement will reduce the risk of fiscal turmoil before the Parliamentary election due in autumn this year. The rating could get higher if the government continued structural reforms to boost competitiveness and growth potential corroborated with cautious budgetary policy, an S&P communiqué stated. The other two major rating agencies, Moody and Fitch have placed Romania on the list of states recommended for investment. Source; Radio Romania International
