The clashing macroeconomic projections and frequent legislative modifications are eroding investors' confidence and reducing their chances of making medium and long-term predictions, believes Aurelian Sima, who runs the Romanian BPO operations of US firm Accenture.
"Business environment stability is the first indicator an investor is looking at when considering a potential investment. (...)," says Sima.
Besides legislative changes, macroeconomic indicators' lack of predictability is another difficulty investors present on the domestic market are coping with.
"Whereas in mid-2007 we could say the Romanian economy's advantage is its predictability, we can no longer say this now. The opposing statements regarding the trend of inflation in 2008, for instance, are harming the business and reducing investors' confidence," states the head of the BPO unit of Accenture, an US company providing consulting services, technological solutions and outsourcing services, with global turnover worth 19.7bn dollars in the fiscal year that ended in August 31, 2007.
Salary budgets are most affected by the volatility of forecasts related to macroeconomic indicators. Authorities' contradictory statements are generating instability and a certain state of nervousness in the private environment. Sima says investors' confidence will rise as authorities' projections become more consistent and closer to reality.
Sima underscores another problem is authorities' lack of support for major employers. "We did our homework before arriving on the market, but all business development has to be supported by what we find on the market at the respective moment," he states.
Accenture has over 280 employees in Bucharest and plans to reach 2,000 employees on the medium and long term.
The US company's BPO unit has four business lines: human resources, financial, procure
