Economic developments during the week of July 20–27 highlighted tighter tax enforcement, fewer opportunities in the labour market and growing security risks near Romania’s eastern border.
While the number of job vacancies declined, applications increased significantly, and the tax authority began issuing assessments related to undeclared income from previous years. The Neptun Deep production platform was installed in the Black Sea, while further drone incidents were reported near the Danube Delta. A €250 million pharmaceutical investment is being prepared in Oradea, while Sfântu Gheorghe may need to borrow funds to continue five EU-backed projects.
1. ANAF: hundreds of thousands of individuals could receive tax assessments: On July 27, the tax authority began issuing ex officio tax assessments to individuals who failed to submit their single tax return for 2021 or did not declare all taxable income.
The checks may be extended to the 2022–2024 period over the coming months. ANAF can also use information received from tax authorities in other EU member states, meaning that income from work abroad, property rentals, investments, self-employment or cryptocurrencies may be examined. Those affected may file the missing declaration within 60 days of receiving the assessment, after which the amount determined by the authority may be amended or cancelled.
2. Fewer vacancies attracted more applicants: Approximately 110,000 new job advertisements were published in Romania during the first half of the year, 15% fewer than in the same period of 2025. Meanwhile, the number of applications rose by 27% to more than 6.7 million, the highest first-half figure since 2021.
Jobseekers aged over 45 submitted 810,000 applications, 31% more than a year earlier. Applications from people under the age of 18 also increased by 22%. Retail attracted the largest number, with almost 2.2 million applications. The figures suggest that employers are more cautious about expanding their workforce, while a growing number of people are searching for a new job or an additional source of income.
3. Standard diesel prices approached 10 lei per litre: On July 23, standard diesel was priced at between 9.64 and 9.80 lei per litre, while premium diesel cost between 10.14 and 10.61 lei. Petrol prices ranged from 8.84 to 8.99 lei per litre.
One major risk is Romania’s dependence on crude oil from Kazakhstan. More than 60% of the imported crude processed by domestic refineries comes from that country, meaning disruptions to supply routes may rapidly affect local prices. Higher fuel costs increase expenses for transport and agricultural companies and may later be partly reflected in consumer prices for food and other products.
4. Neptun Deep: the offshore production platform has been installed: The Neptun Alpha central production platform for the Neptun Deep project has been installed in the Black Sea. Positioned in water approximately 120 metres deep, the structure weighs 16,500 tonnes and stands more than 225 metres high.
The platform will collect, process and transport extracted natural gas towards the onshore network. It will operate without permanent personnel and will be controlled remotely. Developed jointly by OMV Petrom and Romgaz, the project is scheduled to begin production in 2027 and could significantly increase Romania’s domestic natural gas output.
5. Drone threat: another unmanned aircraft entered Romanian airspace: On the morning of July 27, military radar systems detected an aerial target east of Sulina. An RO-Alert warning was issued to residents of Tulcea County at 8:47 a.m., and two F-16 aircraft took off from the Fetești air base at 8:53 a.m. The drone briefly entered Romanian airspace before returning towards Ukraine, where explosions were subsequently reported.
The incident followed several successive drone alerts and airspace violations. The situation represents an economic as well as a military risk: it increases the cost of airspace surveillance and border protection, may accelerate purchases of drone-detection and air-defence systems, and could influence the risk assessments of transport and insurance services operating around the Danube Delta and Black Sea ports.
6. A €250 million pharmaceutical plant is planned in Oradea: Ukrainian company Biopharma Plasma plans to invest approximately €250 million over ten years and four development stages in a plant producing plasma-derived medicines. The first stage, valued at €85 million, will include production capacity and a research and development centre.
The project will be developed on an industrial site covering more than 34,000 square metres and could create around 200 jobs during its first stage. The plant may eventually process up to 1.2 million litres of frozen plasma annually, with production scheduled to begin in December 2027. The investment could strengthen high-value-added manufacturing and medical research capacity in Transylvania.
7. TAROM appoints its nineteenth chief executive in ten years: Another management change has taken place at TAROM. Following Bogdan Costaș’s six-month interim term, Cristian Anghel was appointed to lead the state-owned airline. He is the company’s nineteenth chief executive in the past decade.
Frequent changes in leadership make it difficult to implement a long-term overhaul of the fleet, route network and cost structure. TAROM accumulated losses of approximately 1.7 billion lei during this period and must also implement a restructuring plan linked to state aid. The absence of stable management is particularly problematic in a market where low-cost and regional airlines continue to expand their share.
8. TeraPlast opened a new plant in Spain: The Bistrița-based TeraPlast Group opened its TeraPlast Iberia polyethylene pipe plant near Bilbao on July 23. The facility has an annual production capacity of 16,000 tonnes, employs 79 people and primarily serves customers in Spain, France and Germany.
The company plans to invest a further €4 million in the plant’s modernisation and expansion. Its objective is to increase production by 60% within three years and raise the EBITDA margin above 10%. The Spanish unit could later serve North African markets as well, strengthening TeraPlast’s expansion in Western Europe.
9. Prosumers will receive their money more quickly: Legislation amending the settlement rules for prosumers has been enacted. Systems with a capacity of up to 27 kW will benefit from monthly financial settlement instead of waiting periods that could previously extend to 24 months.
The value of electricity generated but not consumed may be used to pay the bill for another consumption point served by the same supplier. Under certain conditions, the accumulated amount may also be used to settle natural gas bills. Romania already has more than 320,000 prosumers with a combined installed capacity of approximately 3,800 MW, meaning the new rules could improve the liquidity of a significant number of households and small businesses.
10. Funding shortages in Sfântu Gheorghe: a 40 million lei loan may be needed for EU projects: The Sfântu Gheorghe Local Council approved preparations for a 40 million lei loan. The funds are needed to cover the municipality’s contribution, non-eligible expenses and invoices already issued by contractors for five projects financed through Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The total value of the investments exceeds 109.7 million lei, of which the municipality must provide 54.1 million lei. The projects include the modernisation of schools and kindergartens, the dormitory of the Székely Mikó National College and the establishment of a Museum of Communism in the former tobacco factory. Through the 13-year loan, the city aims to avoid delays, penalties and the loss of EU funding.
Summary
The week’s economic developments highlighted tighter tax enforcement, fewer opportunities in the labour market and the growing importance of security expenditure. Repeated drone incidents near Romania’s eastern border may require additional investment in airspace surveillance and air defence. At the same time, Neptun Deep, the pharmaceutical plant in Oradea and TeraPlast’s international expansion may create new production and export capacity. Sfântu Gheorghe’s proposed loan demonstrates, however, that even EU-funded projects require substantial local resources and pre-financing capacity.
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