“The law stimulating investments targets to earmark available funds for economic sectors with huge economic and social impact,” the press statement of the Ministry of Economy and Finance read.
The Ministry said the facilities will be granted for investments in the processing industry, the production and supply of electric power, thermal power, natural gas and hot water, sanitation, waste management, telecommunications, as well as for professional, scientific, technical and administrative activities.
Incentives will be granted by authorities by means of certain normative or administrative acts setting state aid grids or individual aid in compliance with the EU regulations in the field.
State aid will be provided by central or local public authorities, as well as by other institutions administrating state funds or the financial resources of local organizations granting this type of incentives.
The draft law on investments was initiated last year by the Ministry of Economy alongside the Ministry for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Commerce, Tourism and Liberal Professions.
According to Eurostat, the eastern European country saw its gross domestic product go up by 8.2% during the first three months of this year.
This is more than three times the amount that was recorded across the EU as a whole during the same period.
In addition, the figure is also up from 6% in the first quarter of 2007, which was Romania’s first year as an EU member.
According to finance minister Varujan Vosganian, this trend has been driven by growth in the construction and service sectors.
This suggests that the growth of tourism and overseas property investment is having a positive impact on the Romanian economy.
Property in the eastern European country is currently in high demand.
This has led to supply being fairly restricted, which in turn has made available properties much more highly sought-after, thus increasing their prices.
Despite the continuous rise of the prices of real estate properties, the market in Romania offers still the most attractive investment opportunities among all other countries in the EU.
Statistics for the last two years show that prices for both land and homes have doubled in some areas and specialists assume the market will follow the same course in the next five to ten years.
Romania became a full member of NATO in 2004 and joined the European Union on January 1st 2007. The country will also introduce the euro as an official currency. This major change will inevitably lead to a comparative "evening out" of prices in Romania compared to the rest of the European countries. People who have invested in Romania, especially the ones who have made investments in real estate, will benefit from the significant increase of the real estate prices and collect good profit if they decide to sell their properties.
Romania is increasingly becoming known and praised as a tourist destination. The interest in Romania by foreigners continuously rises, especially in the last few years when certain important socio-economic and political changes were made. Most of Romania's famous winter and summer tourist destinations offer facilities to European and international standards.
2007 saw the highest foreign investment level ever and this trend continues. A rise in direct foreign investment allows more jobs to be created, increases transfer of technology and offers training to the labour force. Further more it results in a greater competitiveness on the international market, influences a rise in exports and encourages businesses to produce results that can be subject to profit taxes. With an increase in profit taxes reinvestment in infrastructure projects, education, health-care and other social programs can be carried out.