The increase in the minimum wage in construction and other fiscal facilities granted to the sector were good measures, as the companies in the field are facing an acute shortage of personnel, said Corneliu Bodea, CEO of the energy services group Adrem.

The group has about 1,500 employees, and salaries reach about 40 million lei. “It was a good measure, which I do not think any Government will repeal, because the main problem was the lack of staff due to departures. For our company, the impact of this measure was of two million lei. We did not have many employees with a gross salary below 3,000 lei, however, in order to keep the peace in the company and the quality, the salaries were increased,” said Bodea, quoted by Agerpres.

According to him, unfortunately, not all of their customers recognized these increases. “The Public Procurement Authority should have clarified the situation. But some customers had no where to supplement the budget, which led to delays, and here we have the example of the Iernut plant,” said Bodea.

He expects the situation to extend into next year. “I do not expect too many good things in 2020. I am sceptic. Although we have contracts for 4-8 years, and 95% of the budget is already signed, the profitability of next year is in question, as the pace of work could decrease, there will be effects from the exchange rate, which is not expected to be too comfortable. The balance of payments is unbalanced, in the EU things are not going well, and exports could stagnate,” he added.