Minimum wage, pension point and allowance go up,but electricity and fuel also go up,as of January 1

The next year will bring the Romanian people an increase for the minimum wage, the pension points and allowance for children, but electricity and fuel prices will go up as of January 1, 2022, agerpres reports.

Thus, minimum wage in 2022 will be 2,550 RON gross, representing a 10.8% increase when comparing with the one in 2021. The pension point will go up by 10%, to 1,586 RON, and the minimum social allowance will increase to 1,000 RON.

Furthermore, allowance for children between 2 and 18 years old will go up to 243 RON, but also for youths over 18 who are following high school and professional classes, until they finish them, including for those with a disability that are going to pre-university form of education, stated by the state, but no later than 26 years of age.

Also, starting with January 1, 2022, the allowance for children to up to 2 years or 3 three years, in the case of a child with a disability, will go up to 600 RON.

The excise duty will increase slightly next year, being indexed with the inflation, for almost all product categories, the only exception being cigarettes, where the excise duty is staying at 563.97 RON for 1,000 pieces.

Thus, according to the numbers published by the Ministry of Finances, leaded gasoline excises go up to 2,226.24 RON / 1000 liters, from 2,149.09 / 1000 liters this year, lead-free gas going from 1,892.72 RON / 1000 liters to 1,827.14 RON currently, and for diesel the excises applicable next year will be of 1,736.44 RON / 1000 liters as opposed to 1,674.55 RON / 1000 liters this year. This will lead to an increase of 0.07 RON increase in pump prices.

Beer excises will go up to 3.77 RON / hl/ 1 Plato degree, from 3.64, while independently made beer whose annual production does not go over 200,000 hl, the tax was established at 2.08 RON, going up from 2.01 RON. Sparkling wine excise will be 54.14 RON / hl, as opposed to 52.26 RON, and Ethyl produced by small distilleries - 1,889.44 RON, from 1,823.96 RON.

Regarding natural gas used for engines, excises will go up to 14.08 RON / GJ, from 13.59 RON, and electricity used for commercial reasons will have new applicable excises as of next year and will be 2.71 RON / MWh, as opposed to 2.61 currently, and electricity used for non-commercial reasons will be 5.42 RON / MWh, as opposed to 5.23 RON / MWh.

Furthermore, price hikes will also be for electricity consumed as universal service, namely for those approximately 3.7 million consumers that have not yet signed a contract on the free market. According to the decisions of the National Regulatory Authority in the Energy Area (ANRE), tariffs will go up to 50-90%, depending on the supplier. The good news is that users will not actually pay these prices during the winter, because the bills have been capped and compensated from the state budget until March 31, 2022. The bad news is that these tariffs are available until the middle of next year and currently there is no decision regarding an extension of support measures.

Instead, tariffs for landline and mobile communications will go down by 22% as of January 1, 2022, as a result of a regulation from the European Commission. Thus, cell phone operators that are activating on the Romanian market will practice a tariff of 0.55 eurocents / minute for closing calls in their own networks, and landline operators will have a tariff of 0.07 eurocents / minute for finishing landline calls in their own networks.

Other decisions that were taken by the authorities and are applied as of January 1 include the payment of CASS (Health Insurance Contribution) by retirees with pensions larger than 4,000 RON; VAT for heating has been reduced by 5% until March 31; VAT was established at 5% for homes cheaper than 140,000 Euro.

Also, as of January 1, new vacation vouchers will be given out, with a value of 1,450 RON. The tickets will be granted by employers only to their own employees, not other physical persons. The value of gifts in money and or in nature, including the gift-tickets, which can be granted by employers as of January 1, will go up from 150 RON to 300 RON.

Furthermore, as of January 1, 2022, the applying period for 24 month minimum wage will start.

Last, but not least, the IMM Invest and the Agro IMM Invest sub-program will be extended and will benefit from a 10 billion RON ceiling, in 2022.