CONTEXT:

• The business environment is once again paying the bill for budgetary waste, having to bear several waves of increased taxes and duties. The state has reduced its deficits less by cutting its own expenses and more by increasing the tax burden, and the effects are strongly felt by companies from various fields.
• In difficult fiscal and economic environments, the first to be affected are always small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, caught with few safety nets, with capitalization problems and difficulties in implementing coherent and predictable business plans.
• After several tense years, 2026 does not look any calmer for the economy. For SMEs, the multiple sources of uncertainty of 2025 are prolonged or even exacerbated this year, and entrepreneurs are looking for solutions to grow and build in a rather complicated economic and social environment.
• In addition to the increase in the tax burden, it also had to face a period of price increases in energy, fuels, food and financing.
• All this, against a background of economic slowdown and consumption moderation, with additional dark clouds brought by the war in the neighborhood, geopolitical tensions, the short-circuiting of international trade relations, under the threat of new tariff barriers or problems transmitted from developed economies, important trading partners for Romania, such as Germany.
• In this difficult economic context, SMEs feel the risk of aggravating financial blockages, of payments received late.
• The number of companies facing financial difficulties has increased, affecting their ability to attract financing and be bankable, which was already precarious in many cases. The situation is, however, better than 10 years ago, but the market feels the need for faster developments.
• European funding is, once again, the place where the business environment can find development opportunities in complicated times. The year 2026 comes with important allocations, but, again, the challenge is not to miss absorption opportunities, as so many times in the past.
• But, Regardless of the negative developments from the outside, SMEs must find solutions to take their businesses forward and grow them, to invest, to keep up with technology, to cope with wage pressures and the need to attract, train and retain good employees.
• Securing financing, whether from banks or EU funds, remains a major challenge for supporting working capital and investments, including in the tech sector, where international issues have dampened investor enthusiasm.
• In a pressure-filled environment, entrepreneurs can do more than just survive the crisis. They can find strategies and solutions that help them capitalize on opportunities for innovation, growth, and internationalization, and they hope to be able to rely on support from other institutional, financial, or administrative areas.
• In such a context, Profit.ro is organizing a debate on topics that concern small and medium-sized entrepreneurs during this period, leaders from public authorities, the business environment, and the financial and banking system.

DISCUSSION TOPICS:

• What worries small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in 2026.
• Challenges for SME financing, after the IMM Invest credit facilities from the first program entered repayment, with effects on companies’ cash flow.
• What solutions can be found when problems arise in the repayment of financing by SMEs.
• New SME financing programs.
• Forecasts for new tax measures that may affect SMEs. Budgetary adjustments and pressure on the business environment.
• The impact of fiscal measures already adopted.
• Solutions that can help entrepreneurs cope with fiscal changes.
• What expectations do entrepreneurs have from the economic recovery measures promised by the Government.
• The risk of aggravating financial blockages, late payments, in the increasingly complicated economic context.
• The effect of regulations and legislative changes targeting SMEs. Contested measures / expected reforms.
• The picture of the economic situation in the SME sector. Sectoral perspectives.
• The impact of the war in Ukraine. Prospects after the end of the conflict and in case of its extension.
• The most suitable financing solutions, including for digitalization.
• Banks and SMEs: what products are available for small entrepreneurs, what loans fit the different needs of the company, what solutions exist when repayment problems arise.
• How has the relationship of SME customers with banks changed in recent years?
• Challenges for government guarantee programs. What is going well, where are the gaps and what improvements are needed?
• Prospects for the non-performing loan rate in the context of a difficult period for entrepreneurs. Solutions for repayment problems.
• The situation of state support programs. Where adjustments and corrections are needed for the programs to be effective.
• European funding: What allocations does 2026 bring: How can delays be recovered? Which programs worked best and which less well for SMEs?
• Problems of social dialogue between the state and entrepreneurs, consulted very rarely, late or not at all in legislative amendments targeting them.
• Challenges for SMEs on the labor market, in finding and retaining employees. Wage pressures. Needs for training and specialization.
• Successful examples among SMEs, how they coped with periods of crisis.
• Innovations and trends in technology that change local entrepreneurship.
• How SMEs cope with technological challenges and the need for rapid digitalization.

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