Romania is performing better than most European peers in managing the pandemic, hence it avoided the lockdown for the first quarter of 2021. The National Institute for Statistics announced that the economy contracted in 2020 by only -3.9%, a much better result than World Bank or IMF predictions. In 2019, Romania was classified as a high-income country and the local exchange entered emerging market status. However, the renowned European Recovery Fund is still on paper, Romania has been traditionally weak in absorbing EU funds and the global market trust in Romania is significantly impaired. The dynamic of the local economy is there, but will it materialize?