Time passed by in a hurry, and 1915 came to the end of the year.
However, there are still no signs of the European war ending, and all participating countries are preparing for the coming year. Both the Allied and Central Powers camps regard next year as a year that determines victory or defeat. Especially the Central Powers camp, because Romania provides them with what they need.
Daily necessities and military supplies, so the German army has performed even stronger this year.
However, this strength is also rapidly consuming its domestic wealth. One and a half years after the war began, the materials purchased from Romania alone reached 2.43 billion marks. Now Romania is the largest importer of Germany and Austria. Such a high import volume
, allowing a large amount of wealth from Germany and Austria-Hungary to be transferred to Romania, prospering the Romanian economy.
Nowadays, as long as one has funds, one can make money. These basically follow the trend of producing materials needed by the Allies. Now the Allies can purchase whatever Romania produces, and there is no need to worry about sales. Those wealthy Germans and Austrians
Businessmen waved checks and made purchases in Romania, so now the Romanian economy is completely supported by German and Austrian purchases.
As for Russia on the other side, I'm sorry that Russia currently has no financial resources to purchase large-scale purchases from Romania. It only purchases urgent supplies, and these are small amounts. Because the Russian government is still counting on the Allied troops landing in Dardanelles.
After defeating the Ottomans in the Straits, they received large-scale material aid. Currently, they are not interested in Romania's prices for materials that have been set at a much higher price.
However, some businessmen with a long-term vision have already seen the hidden dangers behind this economic prosperity. While making profits from Germany and Austria, they began to consider the problems after the war. But at present, Romania can only trade with Germany and Austria because of the Black Sea
The strait is currently impassable and goods from Romania cannot be shipped out.
However, by the end of the year, the Romanian economy, which relied entirely on German and Austrian purchases, reached a new level. According to government department statistics, Romania's gross national product (GDP) reached 9.673 billion lei, an increase of 26.5% over the previous year.
Due to the strong demand from Austria-Hungary, grain exports have regained the status of Romania's largest export category. A large part of this is due to the grain processing factories that have sprung up in Romania. These factories will be low-value
Earn profits from the grain, processed food or semi-finished products. Now, 85% of the foreign food in the markets of Germany and Austria is produced in Romania. It is these grain processing plants, large and small, that promote grain and its deeply processed products.
It has become the largest export category.
The second largest category of Romanian exports is still petroleum and chemicals. Thanks to a large number of vehicles in Germany and Austria being used for military transportation, traditional American oil could not enter in the past, so Romanian oil could only be purchased. This year, petroleum is still
It is the main export force of Romania. The total difference between oil and food is not too big, only 40 million lei.
This year, automobile exports fell to third place. Among them, the closure of the Black Sea Strait caused the automobile manufacturing industry to lose markets in Western and Southern Europe. Moreover, Germany and Austria imported high-priced oil, which further suppressed the desire of the two countries to purchase vehicles. Now Romanian automobiles
Volkswagen, the main force in the manufacturing industry, does not have the financial wealth it once had. It can only produce heavy-duty trucks at a low speed and sell some auto parts at the same time to relieve the company's pressure. Now the number of employees in Volkswagen factories has dropped from 87,000 at its peak to 79,000 now.
Thousands of people. If it were not for the rapid loss of vehicles on the battlefield, the automobile manufacturing industry would almost not be able to maintain its third position.
Large-scale purchases by Germany and Austria contributed to the prosperity of Romania, and Prime Minister Bratianu also contributed a lot. So at the end of the year, in order to commend the Prime Minister for his achievements, Edel personally awarded him the Royal Knights Medal. When awarding the medal, the General Staff
General Chang Preishan and Army Minister General Courtois were also present to congratulate the Prime Minister. This was Edel's attempt to ease the somewhat tense relationship between the government and the military due to militia expenses.
Of course, Romania's economic momentum is rising rapidly, so the growth of government fiscal revenue will not slow down. According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, in 1915, Romania's fiscal revenue reached a record high of 1.24 billion lei, an increase of 27.4% over the previous year.
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Among them, customs tax is still the largest tax in Romania. From this, we can see the importance of exports to Romania, which is what Edel is worried about. Because the current domestic population of 10 million cannot allow the industry to develop and grow. The domestic population is not enough.
Supporting economic development will become the most urgent problem Romania needs to solve after the war.
Therefore, in addition to Transylvania and Bessarabia, where Romanians hold the majority, seizing more territory from the collapsed Austria-Hungary and Russia will become Romania's primary goal in the future. Among them, the rich Ukrainian granary,
Romania needs a piece of it too.
In addition to customs taxes, which have always ranked first, the largest tax category that has occupied the second place since five years ago is industrial and commercial taxes. Especially in recent years, industrial and commercial taxes have also gradually increased their proportion in tax revenue. Now they are close to customs taxes
With 85% of taxes, it is firmly the second largest tax in Romania.
In addition to these two taxes, there are agricultural taxes, personal income tax, value-added tax, etc. Fiscal revenue, in addition to various taxes, of course there are other incomes. For example, profits paid by state-owned enterprises, land income, etc. These are government revenues.
Strong supplements, especially the profits paid by state-owned enterprises, account for the majority of supplementary income.
Nowadays, a number of state-owned enterprises, such as the Constanta Steel Plant and the Romanian Chemical Plant, which relied on German loans, have developed and grown. Although these state-owned enterprises have factors such as bloated enterprises, improper management, and slow market response.
However, relying on its rapid economic development in Romania, these companies have grown stronger.
For example, the Constanta Steel Plant has grown from its initial establishment of 2,400 employees and assets of 62.5 million lei to 5,800 employees and assets of 165 million lei. This is all because there is only one steel plant in Romania.
The steel it produces relies entirely on the protection of tariffs to develop and grow. Therefore, in Romania, the products of the Constanta Steel Plant have always been the main force used in various industries. Other steel plants cannot compete with the Constanta Steel Plant, which is protected by the government.
In fact, in addition to good economic development this year, Romania has also invested heavily in people's livelihood. There have been significant improvements in areas such as medical care, education, transportation, and public security. These are all aspects related to the people, so now the Romanian people are full of hope for the future.
I have high expectations. This is also very beneficial to Edel’s future plans.
PS: Sorry for being late, my head hurts when I write this chapter. It is exactly like the Romanian Economic Development White Paper. It is so difficult to write.
