Romania has annually closed an average of two percentage points of the gap with the European average. In 2000, Romania’s GDP per capita (at purchasing power parity) stood at around 25% of the EU average, but currently, this figure exceeds 75%, said Csaba Balint, a member of the Board of Director of the National Bank of Romania (BNR). An important role was played by the dynamic increase in labor productivity, Balint believes, and Romania had the fastest growth in the CEE region. This positive trend was largely supported by economic restructuring: in 2000, almost 45% of the employed population was involved in agriculture, followed by industry (22%) and market services (21%). currently, the weight has shifted significantly towards market services with a much higher added value. Within the services sector, certain categories such as IT&C have shown exceptionally fast growth. If we analyze the share of the added value of the IT&C segment in the national economies, Romania is in the top 5 of the EU countries. In addition to the country’s capital, there are numerous regional economic centers – such as Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi, Constanta or Craiova, which play an important role in development. The seven most important economic poles in Romania contribute to more than 50% of the national GDP. All counties in Romania have made significant progress in the last almost two and a half decades in terms of GDP per capita, but regional disparities have increased, said the BNR expert. In the current global context, characterized by uncertainty and major structural changes, Romania must be prepared to respond to some challenges: the aging of the population, the transition to a green economy, digitization, geopolitical tensions and global fragmentation, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence, with all its aspects positives and associated risks, the economist concluded.
June is the richest month. The most awaited two weeks in my annual festival pilgrimage. The route starts with Romania’s Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), followed by Italy’s (and the world’s) most comprehensive festival for restored and archival film: Il Cinema Ritrovato. To shake up the traditional article on the two, I’ll start with the […]
Different Beauty, a recently opened exhibition of works by Czech photographer David Těšínský, offers a glimpse into everyday life in the war-torn region of Donbas in 2017. The photos were taken within the span of only a few days, as Těšínský traveled to eastern Ukraine to document the lives of women impacted by war. In […]
Different Beauty, a recently opened exhibition of works by Czech photographer David Těšínský, offers a glimpse into everyday life in the war-torn region of Donbas in 2017. The photos were taken within the span of only a few days, as Těšínský traveled to eastern Ukraine to document the lives of women impacted by war. In […]
Roughly 70% of Romanians are “very” or “moderately” concerned about how AI accesses and uses their data, according to the latest survey conducted by RoCoach in partnership with Novel Research between May and June 2025. Distrust in automated decision-making and the demand for regulation are becoming more pronounced, as Romania rolls out major digitalization projects […]
The Armenian Street Festival returns for a 9th edition between August 1 and 3, 2025, in the “Dimitrie Brândză” Botanical Garden in Bucharest. The festival brings into focus the living heritage of the Armenian community in Romania and the diaspora. According to the organizers, this year’s edition aims to strengthen the Bucharest–Chișinău–Yerevan cultural axis, articulated […]
The Romanian mergers and acquisitions market registered a total of 122 announced transactions in the first half of 2025, with a value exceeding EUR 2.7 billion, marking a slight increase of 6% in volume and 4% in value compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by George Ureche, partner at PwC Romania. […]
