Survey: Entrepreneurs anticipate new price hikes in goods, services

Entrepreneurs anticipate new price increases in products and services, most of them estimating price increases between 10% and 30%, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Council of SMEs in Romania.In this context, 47.5% said that they have the possibility to increase the minimum wage of their employees by 200 non-taxable RON in the next period.To the question: "What is the reason why you will not increase the salary of your employees earning the minimum wage", the entrepreneurs replied: large expenses with fuel/energy/gas - 52.5%, maintaining competitiveness within signed contracts - 45%, salary increases previously granted - 27.5%, large expenses with raw materials - 15%.Regarding the short-term businesspersons objectives, 70% of the entrepreneurs mentioned the maintenance of the activity and of the employees at the current level, 25% mentioned the development of the activity and the increase of the number of employees and the remaining 5% will reduce the company's activity.The majority of those interviewed (97.5%) do not consider it useful to introduce the obligation to register in the Catalogue of companies and to pay a fee to a private organization (100 euros / year for large enterprises, 75 euros / year for medium-sized enterprises, 50 euros / year for small enterprises, 20 euros / year for micro-enterprises, 10 euros / year for authorized individuals, sole proprietorships and family businesses).Also, 90% of them do not see useful the introduction of the obligation to obtain a certificate of competence for the administration of their own activity - for a fee - in the first year after its establishment from a private organization.Business people have the lowest trust in the chambers of commerce (75% of them giving these organizations a grade of 1, on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is the lowest trust and 5 - the highest trust), NGOs (57% of them giving a grade of 1) and in the public system respectively the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Finance, ANAF (tax authority), ONRC (trade register) (55% awarded a grade of 1).At the same time, 45% of entrepreneurs granted a 5 grade to the employers' confederations.The survey was conducted by the National Council of SMEs between 10 and 18 May 2022, in order to identify entrepreneurs' opinion on the current economic context and the degree of trust of SMEs in the representative institutions. The survey was answered by 2835 entrepreneurs. Regarding the form of organization, the respondents were 72.5% micro-enterprises, 17.5% small enterprises and 10% medium-sized enterprises. Regarding the field in which the respondents carry out their activity, 72.5% are from services, 22.5% are from production and the remaining 5% are from the trade field.