A “stimulus package” for industrial consumers of electricity and natural gas in Romania will be approved next week, according to Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

This package targets energy and gas prices and the main beneficiaries would be companies such as Alro, ArcelorMittal and InterAgro, which in recent years made constant pressure to obtain such an aid from the state, writes local daily Hotnews.ro.

According to Ponta, the government is to submit on March 24 the normative acts on the stimulus package, to the Parliament. Two days later, on March 26, the government should adopt the normative acts.

The government announced few weeks ago that it intends to approve a support scheme for large industrial consumers of energy, a scheme that involves a reduction of up to 85 percent in the number of green certificates, reports Hotnews.ro.

This state aid targets large industrial consumers only.

Earlier this month, President Traian Basescu has signed the law approving the government’s emergency ordinance to cut the number of green certificates, adding that he expects to see lower electricity prices.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com