Economic consultant: The economy is panting, and the outlook for 2025 doesn't look good

The significant slowdown in the economy has to be put down to the effects of inflation, the falling purchasing power of the population and the major problems faced by more and more companies, amid falling sales, from financial bottlenecks to a drop in supplier credit, said economic consultant Adrian Negrescu. According to the data published on Thursday by the National Institute for Statistics (INS), the GDP was not changed in Q3 of this year, as compared to the previous quarter, for a seasonally adjusted series, while against the same quarter of 2023 GDP dropped by 0.2%."The economy is operating with the handbrake on. Statistical data confirms that we are witnessing real economic stagnation, with many sectors where sales are falling significantly and the number of companies closing is increasing by the day. The significant slowdown in the economy has to be put down to the effects of inflation, the falling purchasing power of the population and the major problems that more and more companies are facing, amid falling sales, from financial bottlenecks to a drop in supplier credit," said Mr Negrescu. He said that, unfortunately, the industrial production has been dropping for months, the constructions register the highest drop since the previous crisis, agriculture is very much affected by the drought and commerce gives the first signs of dropping due to the reduction of purchasing power."Even the IT&C sector is no longer making a positive contribution to GDP, the economy is gasping for breath, and the outlook for 2025 does not look good. It's a paradox what is happening in Romania - we have borrowed almost €50bn, the deficit will pass €27bn, we have allocated more money for investment and yet the economy is heading for recession. It's a sign that the situation is not positive at all and that measures need to be taken", added the economic consultant. According to him, it is ‘absolutely vital to drop the work taxes, in order to leave more money in the people’s pockets’. He said that ‘ we will not be able to restart the economy unless we take measures meant to support private investments, recruitment and increase of salaries’.