Mariana Gheorghe, OMV: Government decisions were adopted without enough contribution from businesspeople

Mariana Gheorghe, president of the Foreign Investors Council and CEO of OMV Petrom group, the biggest private Romanian company, says predictability and transparency are of critical importance for the business world, as they are the basic pre-conditions to attracting investors.
The private sector has over the last few months been confounded by measures such as the VAT hike by five per cent, implemented in just a few days' time, the various rumours about raising the flat rate, as well as about cutting it, levying tax on the fortunes of the rich, raising VAT by a further percentage point.
"Consultations with the authorities are all the more important since they allow for the legislation to be consolidated so as to cater both to the needs of the authorities, and of the business community. More often than not legislation, especially fiscal legislation, has been adopted urgently, so businesspeople did not have the time to contribute enough," said Mariana Gheorghe.
The Foreign Investors Council is an association of the leading foreign investors in Romania, which currently has 118 member companies, whose cumulated investments amount to around 30 billion euros, i.e. almost two thirds of overall foreign direct investments conducted in Romania from 1990 until the present.