Perception of Romanian Business Environment Research Report

1. The Business Environment's perception of the economyResearch ReportConducted forThe Chamber of Commerce and Industry of RomaniaMarch 2015 • SStudy conducted on a representative national sample of 500 companies, with respondents in leadership positions. • The margin of error is± 4.4%with a confidence level of 95% • Data collection period: 12-26 March 2015.

2. The main issues of the Romanian business environment Q1. What is currently the most important issue faced by your company? Single Response. The main problems faced by companies in Romania are represented by high taxes (38%), finding customers (14%), legislation (11%) and competition (9%). The four items were indicated by 70% of respondents.

3. Competition TOTAL Competitors I. The main competitor 1 of 2 businesses see local companies with operations in the same region and field as the their main competitors (51%). For this indicator, there has been a greater response frequency in companies with turnover up to 1 million euro than for those with more than 1 million. Instead, foreign companies in our country (multinational) have been indicated by 31% of respondents as the their main competitors, this being the case of companies with a turnover of over 10 million euro. Also, compared with the ones in the productions sector, trade and transport companies have indicated more often foreign firms as major competitors. Q2.Who is the main competitor for your business? How about the second one? And the third?

4. The impact of external factors on businesses(I) The main factors with negative impact (much /very much) on the activity of the companies are frequent changes in legislation (82%), the high level of taxation (81%) and the condition of the infrastructure (68%). Corruption in the administration is a negative factor as well as the skill level of the workforce. 63% of companies consider corruption in administration as a factor that negatively affects their activity. Q3. How much does this negatively affect your company…? One answer per line!

5. The impact of external factors on companies’ activities (II) 58% of companies believe that the state maintains numerous unnecessary and costly regulations. For example: "Mandating that each employee has to follow courses for 4 days, 8 hours a day for PSI" or "Physical safety" or “the low level of travel allowance, both for national and international travels". At a similar level is also the mismatch of the national databases of the public institutions (58%). It represents the ineffectiveness of the state that businesses encounter in their activates. This means lost time, instead of a better coordination of the databases by the state. Q4. How much does this negatively affect your company…? One answer per line!

6. Areas with legal regulations with a real impact on the economic activity of companies Continuing the same trend, the main areas of with legal regulations burdensome for companies are taxation (80%), competition (30%) and labor (29%). Q5. In which of these areas are the most burdensome legal regulations for your company … ? (I can tick several variants within 3) Base 500 respondents

7. Factors adversely impacting the company's activity Almost 60% (3 of 5 decision makers) of companies have spontaneously mentioned taxation as a factor negatively affecting the company's activity. At the same time, they have spontaneously mentioned both the instability and the ambiguity of the legislation – aprox. 20% of respondents. The level of education of the labor force is a factor with negative impact on Romanian companies, especially those in the fields of production (manufacturing, agriculture, construction) Q6. List the top 5 negative factors affecting your company's activity. Open answer. Base 500 respondents * In the Other category there are included all the responses with 5% or less

8. Assessment of 2014(I) The main indicators Net Increase („It grew up” – „Fell”) If it is estimated that direct costs have increased in 2014, the proportion of those who believe that profits have risen is just 1% higher than those who believe that they have decreased. Rising profits have mentioned in particular by companies with turnover of 10 million Euro. The highest percentage of those who felt the increased direct costs (labor and materials) is given by the companies in the areas of production compared with those from trade and transportatin. Q7. Which of the following indicators, relevant to your activity, have decreased, remained unchanged or increased over the past year in your company? One answer per line!

9. Assessment of2014 (II) The main indicators The perception of company decision makers is that in 2014, sales had had a positive growth in 45% of cases and a negative for approx. 30%. In addition, we can also observe a rising openness of banks towards lending (33%). Overall, only 30% of respondents have perceived an improvement of the general economic situation; compared with the services sector, the trade and transportation companies consider the economy has worsened. Q8. For each of the following factors, would you say that they have improved, remained unchanged or deteriorated in the past year? One answer per line! Net Improvement („Improved” – „Worsened”) Base 500 respondents

10. Assessment of 2014 and Expectations for 2015 Comparing the situation in 2014 with the expectations for 2015, we can distinguish a moderate optimism regarding the positive evolution of companies, the growth rates being small and when considering the employment level, there are slightly pessimistic. Those from the production sector expect to have in 2015 an increase in the employment level, while the companies from trade and transportation are more cautious in this regard. Q9. In the last year, how much has your company increased in terms of ...? One answer per line! Q10. In the next year, what is your estimate regarding your companies growth in...? One answer per line! 2014* 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 Turnover Profitability Number of employees Base 500 respondents * The difference up to 100% is given by Do not know / No answer

11. Trust in institutions (I) Trade register (68%), CCIR (60%) and DNA (60%) trusted by the Romanian business environment. Q11. Personally, how much do you trust … ? One answer per line! Base 500 respondents

12. The interaction of companies with public institutions In the relation between the entrepreneurs and the institutions we can observe that the easiest interaction is with the National Trade Register (60%) and at the other end is the procurement of permits and licenses (49%), followed by the procedure for closing down a company, unfreezing of accounts and accessing European funds (~40%). Q12.On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = Very difficult 5 = very easy, how do you asses the conduction of these activities in Romania? Oneanswer per line! Base 500 respondents

13. The interaction of companies with public institutions The interaction with the state is not perceived as a time consuming activity by half of respondents, however 44% have declared that this interaction is time consuming. Comparing the last number with the number that have declared that it consumes very little time – only 7% - we can conclude that the interaction with the public institutions is time consuming. Q13. How much time do you consider that your companies’ interaction with the state institutions consumes… ?Single response. Base 500 respondents

14. Control authorities Merging control bodies 87% of the interviewed entrepreneurs consider that the introduction of a single inspection body that will group the existing ones after the German model will represent a very good measure. Q14. Do you consider that a single inspection body that will group the existing ones after the German model will be….Single response. Base 500 respondents

15. Impact of legislative measures stimulus economic (I) The main measures Out of all the legislative measures with economic impact, the CAS reduction has been perceived as beneficial by ¾ of respondents. These are predominant from companies with a turnover of less than one million euro, while the companies with turnover of more than one million euro consider that this measure has had no effects on their activity. The additional excise is considered to have a negative impact (75%), followed by the tax on fixed assets – 39%. Q15. What impact did the following governmental measure have had on your company? One answer pe line! Base 500 respondents

16. Promoting the Romanian business potential Companies with foreign activities Promoting the business environment The promotion abroad of the Romanian business environment in perceived as very good by 21% of respondents, over half (54%) considering it as unsatisfactory and 24% declaring that they can not evaluate. Q16. How satisfied are you by the way that the State promotes abroad the potential of the Romanian business environment? Single response. Base 500 respondents

17. Joining the Eurozone Joining the Eurozone Year of joining the Eurozone Joining the Eurozone will have a positive impact for 40% of companies, 30% consider that will not influence their business and 24% consider it will have a negative impact. 60% of respondents say that joining the euro should be done after 2019. Q17. As you know, Romanian intends to join the Euro. Do you believe that this will have a positive impact on your business? Single response. Q18. You consider that joining the Eurozone should take place….?Single Response. Base 500 respondents