The economic news from July 13–20 highlighted the vulnerability of government digital systems, the rapid shift in business structures and the continuation of major investments.
A cyberattack on the national cadastre and land registry system temporarily brought property transactions to a halt, while a growing number of entrepreneurs are choosing PFA status instead of an SRL. A data centre worth nearly 240 million lei is being prepared in Mureș County, and Ferrero is taking steps towards launching production in Romania. On the capital markets, attention focused on Digi's Spanish listing, the change of ownership at Biofarm and the strong performance of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
1. Mureș County: a data centre worth nearly 240 million lei could be built: Mureș County Council and Mureș Industrial Park intend to develop a modern data centre on the Vidrasău industrial platform. The total investment is estimated at close to 240 million lei, of which around 71 million lei, or €13.7 million, would take the form of non-repayable EU funding.
The facility, covering almost 10,000 square metres, would provide data processing, data storage and server hosting services. Construction is expected to take 20–24 months. Preliminary calculations indicate a payback period of 7–8 years, after which annual operating results of tens of millions of lei are expected. Actual profitability will, however, also depend on the utilisation rate and energy prices.
2. Cyberattack hits the cadastre and land registry system, halting property transactions: On July 14, the IT system of the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration was targeted by a cyberattack. The outage of the e-Terra platform prevented the issuance of land registry extracts, the registration of properties and the completion of many sale-and-purchase and mortgage transactions.
The case is particularly significant because the institution spent around 710 million lei on IT and digitalisation contracts over the past two decades, while expenditure specifically dedicated to cyber security did not reach 1.6 million lei. The incident demonstrated that the failure of a single central government system can rapidly cause nationwide economic disruption.
3. Number of micro-enterprises falls by nearly 40,000: The number of companies operating under the micro-enterprise tax regime fell from 303,715 to 263,787 between December 2025 and March 2026. This represents a change in tax status for 39,928 businesses in a single quarter.
Compared with the peak of almost 913,000 recorded in 2022, the number of micro-enterprises has already fallen by nearly 650,000. This does not mean that the same number of companies ceased trading: a significant proportion moved into the 16% corporate income tax regime after the revenue threshold was cut to €100,000. The number of companies paying corporate income tax has already exceeded 852,000.
4. PFA instead of SRL: almost 50% more sole traders registered: During the first five months of the year, more than 25,000 new sole traders operating as PFAs began trading in Romania. This was an increase of nearly 50% compared with the same period in 2025.
The number of new PFAs is now approaching that of newly incorporated limited liability companies, or SRLs. In 2024, roughly three new SRLs were established for every PFA; by 2026, the ratio had narrowed to approximately 1 to 1.4. The trend may be driven by simpler administration, lower operating costs, the expansion of project-based work and the tightening of the micro-enterprise tax regime.
5. New public-sector pay law: expenditure could rise by up to 12.1 billion lei: Under the draft public-sector pay law, total personnel expenditure in the public sector could increase by no more than 12.1 billion lei from its current level. Earlier estimates suggested that a full restructuring of the pay system would have required additional expenditure of around 27 billion lei.
An additional 2.6 billion lei is planned for defence, public order and national security, one billion lei more than in the previous version. Adopting the law is also a commitment under the European recovery mechanism, and failure to meet it could put €770 million in funding at risk.
6. Ferrero prepares to launch production in Romania: The Italian group behind the Kinder, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello and Tic Tac brands has registered a new company named Ferrero Romania Industrial SRL. Its principal activity is the manufacture of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery products.
The establishment of the company represents Ferrero's first concrete corporate step towards adding manufacturing operations to its commercial and distribution presence in Romania. No details have yet been announced about the factory's location, the value of the investment, production capacity or the size of the workforce, so the project currently remains at the investment-preparation stage.
7. Biofarm: Polish takeover values the company at nearly €260 million: Poland's Zakłady Farmaceutyczne Polpharma has acquired Bucharest-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Biofarm. The public takeover offer was conducted at 1.379 lei per share, valuing the entire company at around 1.36 billion lei, or nearly €260 million.
Biofarm's two former main shareholders, Longshield Investment Group and Lion Capital, together held more than 88% of the shares. The company's portfolio of more than one hundred brands includes Carmol, Triferment, Colebil, Bixtonim and Cavit. The transaction represents one of the most significant changes of ownership in Romania's pharmaceutical industry.
8. Digi raises €287 million on the Spanish stock exchange: Digi's Spanish subsidiary sold 51.3 million shares at a price of €5.60 per share. The initial public offering raised a total of €287 million and valued the company at close to €1.66 billion.
Of the proceeds, €150 million went to the Spanish company as new capital, while €137 million came from shares sold by the Romanian parent company. On the first trading day, the shares closed at €5.15, 8% below the offer price, illustrating the volatility that can accompany a stock-market debut.
9. Bucharest Stock Exchange becomes Europe's second-best-performing market: The BET-TR index recorded a total return of 32% in euro terms and 43% in lei during the first half of the year. Among the European markets analysed, this placed the Bucharest Stock Exchange second, behind the Budapest Stock Exchange.
For comparison, the Euro Stoxx 50 and the US S&P 500 both delivered returns of around 13% when calculated in euros. Energy, utility and banking shares played an important role in the Romanian market's rise. Stock-market performance, however, primarily reflects the valuations of large, profitable companies that pay dividends consistently.
10. Danube flow falls to a 30-year low: At the river's entry point into Romania, the measured flow fell to 1,750 cubic metres per second, the lowest level recorded in the past three decades. Water available for irrigation was consequently restricted on the Călărași–Cernavodă section.
Persistently low water levels pose simultaneous risks to agricultural production, river freight transport and power generation. Reduced irrigation may cause crop losses, particularly among summer crops, while shipping costs may also increase.
Summary
The week's economic picture showed both the continuation of investment activity and the structural vulnerability of the economy. The Mureș County data centre and Ferrero's production plans may signal the creation of new capacity, while the Biofarm takeover and Digi's stock-market listing confirm the continuation of regional corporate expansion. At the same time, the shutdown of the cadastre and land registry system highlighted the risks associated with the government's digital infrastructure. The decline in the number of micro-enterprises and the rapid growth of PFAs also show that entrepreneurs are increasingly adapting to the changed tax environment.
As a number of major economic developments are currently unfolding in parallel, readers who wish to explore any of these topics in greater depth are encouraged to search for the relevant terms online to find additional analysis and details.
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