Author: Alexandru Popescu

The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) has released the latest edition of its Business Sentiment Index (BSI), reflecting the views of over half of its member companies—foreign investors present in Romania. The results from March 2026 indicate a cautious improvement in revenue and investment outlooks, alongside persistent concerns regarding legislative predictability, competitiveness in attracting foreign direct investment compared to regional areas, and increasing cost pressures. The overall business environment index has improved compared to the last survey conducted in October 2025. However, the majority of companies—51%—still consider the business environment…

Romania's peak energy consumption is 9 gigawatts, and in the latest report from the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) regarding technical connection permits, there were 80-81 gigawatts, which is absurd, stated on Wednesday the first vice-president of the Employers„ Organization of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania – PATRES, Martin Moise, according to Agerpres. "I would like to mention that we, PATRES, requested guarantees for the issuance of ATRs (technical connection permits, editor's note) in 2018, because we saw what happened in the first wave of investments, in the period 2008-2013, when we had technical connection permits…"

Artificial intelligence and digitalization can generate significant gains in competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency in financial sector activities in the medium and long term, but these benefits also come with important risks, which is why the use of these tools must be done with moderation and responsibility, stated Anca Dragu, governor of the National Bank of Moldova. „We are talking today about this mega-trend that is very present in the activity, in the financial market. We are talking about everything that means digitalization and artificial intelligence. These are areas present in the financial field, in commercial banks, but also at the level of central banks. I was reading a study by the IFC (International Finance Corporation...

Updated data analysis regarding the status of the StartUp Nation 2024 program highlights a low occupancy of available slots, which raises questions about the effectiveness of the current implementation mechanism, IMM Romania told us. According to the centralized data, over 31,000 slots are available for Pillar I of the program, but the number of registered individuals is significantly lower, resulting in approximately 11,800 unoccupied slots. At the same time, we must also consider that a portion of the total number of registered individuals are declared ineligible (estimated at 20%), thus increasing the number of unoccupied slots to approximately 15,000-16,000.

The Romanian renewable energy project market is growing rapidly, and the need for labor is beginning to outstrip local availability, particularly in technical and execution roles. In this context, international recruitment and labor mobility are becoming critical components for delivering projects on time. In an exclusive interview with IndustryNews, Elena Antoneac, Managing Partner at NESTLERS GROUP, explains the main market blockages and the increasing role of immigration and compliance solutions. She will be a speaker on April 22nd at the Solar Energy Bucharest Summit. What is the current real need for labor...

The renewable energy market is accelerating, but the pace of project development is increasingly conditioned by the availability of specialized labor. According to Sebastian Enache, director of RenewAcad, at the European level, wind energy is estimated to grow from around 443,000 jobs to over 600,000 by 2030, and European solar already has projections of over 1.1 million workers by the end of the decade. In Romania, approximately 30,000 technicians are employed in wind and photovoltaic projects, and their number needs to double next year. Sebastian Enache will take the stage at the Solar Energy Bucharest Summit on April 22nd, in a panel…

A new wave of sale listings has flooded specific platforms like OLX, as speculative investments in solar projects will soon be restricted due to the market arbitrator, ANRE, increasing the financial guarantee. Sellers of speculative projects still have time to divest them, essentially until their technical connection permits expire, after which they will have to pay the increased financial guarantee or give up. ”I went on OLX and saw this: investment opportunity, advanced photovoltaic project, 2 MW, 611,000 lei and 90 bani. The price includes: technical connection permit obtained, connection contract signed with...

Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan announces investments of approximately 3.5 billion euros in energy and natural gas production and transport, negotiated this week in Washington, following discussions with representatives of international financial institutions and high-ranking American officials. ”This week, I had top-level meetings with the World Bank, the American administration, the Department of Energy, US EXIM Bank, the State Department, DFC, and MIGA/IFC to attract financing and partnerships for Romania's most important energy projects. For nuclear, we have made concrete progress: financing of up to 3 billion dollars for the modernization of Unit 1..."

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) gained over 28.3 billion lei in capitalization last week, an increase of almost 5%compared to the previous week, while the value of trades rose by 37.3 million lei, or 9%, according to data published by the BVB and consulted by Agerpres. In both analyzed periods, there were four trading sessions. The stock market capitalization reached 598.60 billion lei in the period April 13-17, 2026, up from 570.22 billion lei recorded in the period April 6-10, 2026. Stock trades generated this week...

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the public support Romania intends to provide for the technological upgrading and life extension of Unit 1 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant complies with EU state aid rules, the institution announced. The decision is a standard procedure for highly complex energy projects, and given the decision-making practice in similar cases, we expect a favorable decision at the beginning of next year, stated the President of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chirițoiu, cited by the central press, later following the announcement. In January 2026, Romania notified the Commission of its intention…