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.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
