Romania to subsidize firms with EUR 600 mln for creating new jobs, investments

The Romanian state will support companies that create at least 20 new jobs by covering parts of the salary costs over two years. These companies would have to keep the jobs for at least five years, and fulfill certain conditions of profitability and social capital. The initial investment which led to the creation of the 20 jobs would also have to be kept for five years. Eligible expenses under this new scheme are salary costs, up to the gross average salary as published by the National Statistics Institute for the previous year. The new support scheme was approved by the Government in its meeting yesterday. Financing based on this scheme can be granted until 2020, and the payments are made between 2015 and 2020, within the allotted budget of EUR 600 million. Around 1,500 companies are estimated to benefit from this new support program.