Capital must flow not only from deposits into credits, but also from saving in private companies which create jobs and that is why it is important to have a developed capital and banling market, says Cristian Popa, a member of the Administration Board of the National Bank of Romania at the 12th edition of BVB Awards 2025, the annual ceremony awarding performances in the capital market in 2024. He referred to the increase of the number of stock market investors, mentioning that in 2015 there were 60,000-70,000 investors and 202,000 in 2024. At the same time, Popa reminded that the increase of GDP/ capita seven times and of the number of highway kilometers have grown ten times in the last 20 years. “There are figures that should be mentioned, especially in the context in which we operate now. Figures about the number of highway kilometers in Romania are undeniable: 113 km in 2003, 1074 in 2023, over 1,200 at present, an increase by ten times. GDP per capita was 2,400 euros 20 years ago, now it is 17,000 euros, that is an increase by 7 times. Direct foreign investments were 9.6 billion euros in 2003, 118 billion euros in 2023,”Popa said. He pointed out that Romania has known an important development, sometimes forgotten. “It is a fantastic development we tend to forget sometimes. We simply forget where we forget where we started from and where we are now. The average Romanian lives 80% of the life span of an average European. We must say that being and EU member helped Romania a lot, as well as the money coming from EU, 66 billion euros. These high contributions helped develop Romania by building roads, bridges , hospitals and helped us get where we are. I think it is important to remind those figures, because sometimes we lose the perspective being preoccupied by the present and foregetting to consider achievements,” Popa pointed out.
The number of people in Romania at risk of poverty stood at 3.59 million people in 2024, 375,000 fewer than in 2023, representing a 9.4% decrease, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, or INS. Despite the improvement, nearly one in five Romanians was affected by poverty last year. According to INS, 19% […]
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca carried out multiple searches on Tuesday, July 1, at the Sibiu International Airport and the Sibiu County Council as part of an investigation into suspected fraud involving a EUR 54 million EU-funded infrastructure project. A total of 24 locations were searched across Bucharest, Brașov, and Sibiu county, […]
A Romanian taxi driver who scammed 90-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka was detained by police on Sunday, June 29, according to media reports. On Friday, June 27, the venerable Nigerian arrived at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport. He got into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel downtown. At the destination, the […]
Costin Șerban, a Romanian entrepreneur, is digitalizing the construction sector in the United Kingdom with an ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution developed over 12 years and an investment of GBP 1.6 million (EUR 1.86 million). Șerban’s cloud-based ERP platform is called Abilo, was developed by the Romanian IT company Obi Systems, and is dedicated to […]
Border checks between Bulgaria and Romania have officially been lifted on July 1, as part of the implementation of the Schengen Agreement. The lifting marks the end of the transitional period of heightened control at the internal border, which had remained in place for six months following their accession to the Schengen area by land […]
Remus Vulpescu became CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Tuesday, July 1, taking over from Adrian Tănase as the stock exchange grapples with a market dominated by government bonds. Vulpescu, 53, is a graduate in political and legal sciences from the University of Bucharest and holder of an EMBA obtained in 2017. He […]
