Romanian entrepreneurs anticipate new economic crisis in Romania, consequence of Ukraine conflict (survey)

Most of Romanian entrepreneurs (93.5%) say that there will be a new economic crisis in Romania, based on the military conflict at the border, according to a survey presented on Tuesday during a press conference, by the chairman of the National Council of Small and Medium Private Enterprises of Romania (CNIPMMR) Florin Jianu.

According to the centralized data, 89.7% of those questioned said that they are experiencing increase in costs for products and services, caused by the conflict in Ukraine, while 77% mentioned that they will increase, in a proportion or another, for products and services in the following period.

Furthermore, 60% of respondents say that they will put investment on hold during this period. At the polar opposite, only 3.7% of entrepreneurs plan to increase their investment.

Regarding turnover, over half (54%) of companies estimate that it will go down, while the rest of 46% say that they will maintain a similar turnover or that they will increase it to some degree. Furthermore, only 5% have a plan for increasing business between 10% and 30%, and only 2% intend to increase their turnover by over 30%.

"8 out of 10 questioned entrepreneurs said that they have no business relations with Russia and Ukraine. For those that do have business with the two countries, 7 out of 10 declared that they have stopped collaborating at this time. Which is very interesting that Romanian entrepreneurs are open to integrate human resources from Ukraine: 4 out of 10 respondents want to hire at least 10 people that come from this country," Jianu specified.

According to the quoted source, 6 out of 10 entrepreneurs are relying on the need for the state to intervene on the economic markets during this period, in key-areas of economic security.

Regarding indirect measures from the state authorities, the survey highlights countering the rise of inflation rate, public investment (for 6 out of 10 entrepreneurs), stimulating markets significantly affected by control (5 out of 10) and state guarantees for loans (4 out of 10).

The CNIPMRR survey regarding the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine for Romanian entrepreneurs was done during the period of March 2-22, 2022, on 2,598 entrepreneurs from various forms of organizations (micro-enterprises, small enterprises, medium and large enterprises).

From the total of those questioned, 50% are activating in services, 30% in commerce, and the rest in industry and production.