Two thirds of Romanian business leaders hope for against-the-odds economic boost in 2013

Eighty Romanian business leaders have expressed hopes of an improvement of Romania’s economic conditions in 2013 and urge the Government to set its priorities to open the way for a slight increase in turnovers, employment and salaries next year, according to the Romanian Business Leader Foundation (RBL). The list of end-of-year resolutions for the Romanian Government, as drawn up by the local business environment, should include “ceasing populist actions and political exaggerations”, “beginning a genuine dialogue with the private sector”, “setting decision transparency as a priority”, “eliminating generalized corruption”, “ modernizing the education system” and "supporting the development of entrepreneurial culture”, according to RBL. Wise choices beat predictable elections when it comes to Romania’s economic growth, Romanian Business Leaders say. “Parliamentary elections were scheduled for this Sunday. We’ll end up, once again, at a loss, with tiredness, jadedness and revolt pulling us from one side and the burden of a decision with far too many unknown elements weighing on our shoulders,” reads the open letter published by the Romanian Business Leaders’ community as a pamphlet entitled “Who do we vote for?”. “But, no matter what we do this Sunday, this type of choice is unlikely to solve Romania’s fundamental problems. [….] We believe that the essential choices lie elsewhere.” With action, altruism, integrity and trust as guiding values, the members of the community are invited to participate in the second edition of the RBL summit to take place on February 7-8, 2013. The first edition of the summit was held in February 2012. RBL also issued the fourth edition of its BusinessMeter. The document contains the result of a survey on the expected evolution of the Romanian economy in 2013 conducted on a sample of 80 entrepreneurs and managers covering a wide range of domains from banking, legal, advertising, oil and gas, to retail and tourism. Most RBL members expect an average 10 percent increase in turnovers for 2013, according to the RBL BusinessMeter. However, 30 percent of the community has a more pessimistic perspective, with expected drops in incomes of up to 10 percent for next year. On the employment front, there’s a balance of expectations with one third of entrepreneurs estimating a 10 percent increase, and another third foreseeing no change in the size of their staff for 2013. Salary increase predictions are even less optimistic, only a third of managers expecting a 5 percent rise, while another third remain confident that paychecks will bring no surprises, for the good or for the bad, next year. Romanian Business Leaders is an apolitical, non-governmental and non-profit organization created in July 2011 with the aim of “productively connecting leaders of the private domain so as to make Romania a better country for business”, according to the foundation’s boilerplate. RBL includes 100 Romanian entrepreneurs and managers who have been involved as volunteers, for the past year, in social entrepreneurship projects pertaining to education, entrepreneurial culture and good governance. Ioana Jelea,