Software & IT services industry accounts for 6.2 pct of Romania's GDP

The software and IT services industry contributes 13.6 billion euros to the Romanian economy, accounting for 6.2 percent of the GDP, reveals a market survey presented on Wednesday at the Palace of Parliament by the president of the Software & Services Industry Employers' Association (ANIS) Mihai Matei.According to survey commissioned by ANIS and carried out by strategic consultancy Roland Berger, of the industry's total economic contribution, the gross operating surplus, taxes and personnel expenses account for 8.8 billion euros, 2.6 billion euros are the indirect impact - economic transactions with Romanian suppliers of businesses in the industry, while 2.2 billion euros are the induced impact - wages spent in the national economy by directly and indirectly supported employees.The survey presented on Wednesday shows that the software and services industry is growing three times faster than the economy. Thus, whereas in the last five years examined (2015 - 2020) Romania's economic growth was 6 percent, the industry registered a jump of 17 percent.As far as human resources are concerned, the ANIS survey highlights the fact that the software and IT services industry supports a total of approximately 270,000 employees, or the equivalent of all employees in two Romanian counties. There are 135,000 employees in companies having software and IT services as their main activity (direct impact), over 73,000 employees supported along the Romanian supply chain of the companies in the industry (indirect impact) and more than 65,000 employees supported through the wages spent in the national economy (induced impact).In terms of benefits, out of the more than 203,000 ICT experts (in all companies, including those with secondary activity in the sector), about 104,000 (51 percent) are subject to the income tax exemption applicable for computer program creation.The software and IT services industry contributes 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros in revenue and taxes to the state budget, which means that the software & IT employees who benefit from the exemption contribute almost twice as much as the national average to the state budget. According to the ANIS report, for every euro left uncollected by the state as income tax, the software & IT industry employee spends 46 euros in the economy.ANIS was created in 1998 to represent the interests of Romanian IT companies and supports the development of the local software and services industry, the growth of companies involved in outsourcing projects and of those that generate intellectual property. ANIS members generate more than 47,000 highly skilled jobs, and the cumulative turnover of the 165 member companies is in excess of 3.87 billion euros.