Chapter 181

More than a month passed unknowingly after the passing of time, Edel also spent Christmas with his parents and his wife, and then The calendar turned to 1914. The situation in Europe is still tense, but many people are optimistic about it, but Edel knows that this is the last time of peace in Europe. Just this year, the Allied Powers headed by Britain, France and Russia and the Allied Powers headed by Germany and Austria will carry out a brutal fight for their own interests. Romania's small physique can only be viewed from the sidelines and can only bet at the last minute.

Recently, Edel asked the guards to hang up a large map of the world in his office to remind himself at any time. Romania is now sandwiched between the Allies and the Allies, and the treatment is not much higher than that of the Balkan countries.

Moreover, according to Edel's request, Transylvania and Bessarabia, the two Romanian majority areas, need to be allocated to Romania. This is something that neither the Entente nor the Alliance will agree to. Now Transylvania is in the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bessarabia is also occupied by Russia. Even the arrogant Romanians must admit that neither of the above two countries can compete with Romania's current small body.

So Edel has only one preparation for this, and that is to wait until Russia is occupied by Ulyanov, and until Austria-Hungary is about to go down, even if the conditions given by Britain and France are reduced. Because at that time, with the discoloration of Russia and the collapse of Austria-Hungary, coupled with the defeat of Germany, there will be a window of power in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Although in the next ten years or so, with the rise of the Soviet Union and the rearm of Germany, this window period will end. But Edel took a fancy to this time period, and intending to take control during this time period is also of great benefit to Romania. If the operation is good, it may not be able to win the seat of an imperial power for Romania.

Now Edel understands the situation in Romania for the seat of the new powers in the future.

In the previous statistics, Edel warned the government's statistics department that this statistics is very important, and asked them to think more about doing it well. But this time the statistical results are worthy of Edel's warning, the data is very detailed.

One more thing here, since the statistical survey at the end of 1910, Edel has handed over the statisticians to the government. Seeing that the statistical results are conducive to the adjustment of the government's governance, and then relying on this group of people, the government set up a statistical department. Now there are more than 300 people dedicated to this work. Edel looked at the statistical results of Romania.

This year, due to Romania's participation in the Second Balkan War, economic development has eased compared to previous years. Romania's gross national product (GDP) reached 6.301 billion lei this year, compared with 59.17 at the end of 1912. Billion lei increased by 6.5%, and the growth rate has eased. However, it is believed that with the improvement of the statistics department next year, the statistics of the former Bulgarian territory will be included, and Romania will have a substantial growth.

The main reason for the slowdown in Romania's economic growth is the slowdown in the growth of the automobile manufacturing industry as its pillar industry. In Europe, Volkswagen's export reached a new high, reaching an export volume of 521,500 complete vehicles, but the increase was only 3.8% higher than last year, and the export volume has entered a period of weakness. The European auto market has further expanded, reaching a scale of 3.7 million vehicles, an increase of 6.7%.

Among them, more than half of the new vehicles are occupied by other European automakers. This trend is most obvious in France and Italy. Among them, Renault and Fiat have added a new car production workshop, which has also increased car tariffs with European countries. It has a lot to do. In the past, the auto tariff was only 15.7%,

However, after car manufacturers in various countries lobbied the government to increase vehicle import tariffs, there was generally a 5-10% increase in tariffs. Romania imported less from France and Italy, leaving it without countermeasures, and France and Italy had no countermeasures against their own car manufacturers. The industry attaches great importance to it, so the growth rate of the two countries reached the highest increase of 10%.

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia increased by only 5%, 5.5%, and 6.1% respectively because of their respective interests. Volkswagen also ensured good competitiveness. As for the United Kingdom, due to the dispersion of automakers, although it also increased by 7.8 % Tariffs do not have too high a coercive force against Volkswagen, and Volkswagen is still in a dominant position in this country.

Although the export of complete vehicles has been held back, relying on lower wages and large-scale assembly lines, Volkswagen still occupies a 68% share of the European auto market, which is still the number one goal of automakers in various countries.

And the export of parts and components benefited from the existing market size, so that the public also has very good income. According to statistics passed through the customs at the end of the year, the export volume of auto parts in 1913 reached 64.123 million lei.

Due to the extensive use of automobiles, the oil consumption in Europe now reaches 8.65 million tons, of which oil from Persia and oil from Baku, Russia account for 41% of the market. Romania's oil accounted for 18.7% of the market due to government and royal funds, and the remaining share was occupied by American Petroleum, which was split by Standard Oil.

It is worth mentioning that when the standard oil company was split, Edel and the Romanian government demanded to redeem the 12.5% ​​of the Romanian oil company that Standard had previously invested in. I don't know if it is because Europe is seeing a war or what is the reason, Rockefeller agreed to Romania's move. For this reason, Edel and the government used 45 million lei to buy back 12.5% ​​of the Romanian Petroleum Company. And Standard Oil's move to quadruple the amount of capital it invests in 7 years was a good talk at the time.

In addition to automobile and oil exports, Romania's other major export items are traditional grain exports. In the statistics at the end of 1913 ~www.mtlnovel.com~Romania's grain exports this year reached a new high of 3.17 million tons. Among them, the export of corn, mainly used as livestock feed, reached 1.36 million tons, while the export of wheat was reduced to 874,000 tons, and the export of other types of grains was 936,000 tons, mainly barley, oats and potatoes. Among them, 39% of the grain is exported abroad after deep processing.

From this data, Edel can see that the quality of life of the Romanian people is gradually improving. While the output of the staple food of wheat has reached a new high, the export volume is shrinking. It can be seen that a large amount of wheat is consumed by the people of the country. The sugar beet used as a raw material for squeezing sugar is basically not exported, which also shows that the quality of life in Romania has been greatly improved.

Even if the export volume of food and automobiles increased slowly, Romania's total export volume this year reached a new record of 1.378 billion lei, and the total import volume reached a record high of 1.198 billion lei.

As the government's most concerned fiscal revenue, Romania also reached a total tax revenue of 612 million lei this year, of which import and export tariffs contributed the most, reaching 147 million lei, second only to tariffs, industrial and commercial taxation reached 67.4 million lei. Iraq, then the agricultural tax of 48.7 million lei, and the rest is the total tax revenue of other forests.

As for the value-added tax that accounts for the bulk of society now, Edel did not have a tax background in his previous life. Therefore, the Romanian government has taxes that are popular in all countries, and he does not know the types of taxes that have not yet appeared.