Serbia wins more and more investments against Romania, in the context where bureaucracy and high administrative costs diminished the competitivity of the Romanian economy, Rene Schob, partner of the fiscal consultancy company Leitner Leitner says.
The statement made by the head of the Romania office of Leitner Leitner draws another signal with regards to the attractivity of Romania which is dropping in the eyes of foreign investors. The consultancy company opened an office in Serbia starting with 1 October, led by Rene Schob as a result of the requests received from his clients to invest in this country.
Thus, Schob said that Serbia has become a competitor for Romania, which already was surpassed by Hungary and Bulgaria as investments. Moreover, the Leitner Leitner partner warns that investors have become more reluctant as regards the perspectives of the economy in 2012 due to the crisis of debts and the slowing down of the German economy.
Moreover, the Romanian economy is still a challenge for foreign investors as a result of the high administrative costs and poor fiscal code. Besides the costs with work force, in Romania there are administrative costs, which lower the competitivity significantly Schob explains. The Leitner Leitner representatives criticize the incapacity of the government to improve the Fiscal Code, especially as Romania has little fiscal room to stimulate investment.
I dont understand why the government does not accept the free of charge help from the AmCham specialists Schob says. He says that Romania most much of its competitivity by the increase of the VAT last summer, which represented a shock to the business environment. Nobody has thought that the VAT could be increased overnight. I would have preferred to have efforts made to collect VAT at the level of 19% than to increase it by 5 percentage points Rene Schob says.
The Leitner Leitner partner does not believe that a VAT reduction is possible now or the separation of the tax. I dont know of any country in Europe which has reduced VAT after an increase Schob said.
According to Ionut Movanu, tax manager at Leitner Leitner, the separation of VAT on categories wont be accepted by the European Commission, being one of the most criticized aspects at EU level. The separation makes it difficult to be managed and can lead to higher irregularities Movanu said.
The fiscal consultancy company Leitner Leitner increased by 25% the turnover over the first eight months of this year, the most contributing the tax department.
According to wall-street.ro, the Romanian office is the first in Central and Eastern Europe from the point of view of the percentage of growth in the group, in the context where the consultancy company drew almost 20 new clients, especially in the banking area and M&A. At the same time, the number of specialists in the office grew by 10%.
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Source:actmedia.eu
