ROMANIA: PROCEED WITH CAUTION
Frontier Markets Focus | Romania
Romania aggressively pursues foreign direct investment by providing a number of incentive programs. But international investors should approach each one carefully.
Romania GDP and Economic Data
Includes Romania real Gross Domestic Product growth rate, with latest forecasts and historical data, GDP per capita, GDP composition and breakdown by sector.
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about Romania economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of Romania best banks and safest banks are also available.
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International Reserves
USD 51.91 billion (2021)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), data retrieved January 2022
Gross Domestic Product - GDP
USD 287.28 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)
USD 653.90 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Real GDP growth
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* |
| 7.3% | 4.5% | 4.1% | –3.9% | 7% |
*Estimate
Source
GDP per capita - current prices
USD 14,863.89 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP per capita - PPP
USD 33,833.10 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
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GDP - composition by sector
- agriculture: 4.3%
- industry: 28.2%
- services: 57.8%
(2020 estimate)
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)
0.5% (2019)
OECD, retrieved January 2022
Inflation
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* |
| 1.3% | 4.6% | 3.8% | 2.6% | 4.3% |
*Estimate
Source
Unemployment rate
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* |
| 4.9% | 4.2% | 3.9% | 5% | 4.9% |
*Estimate
Source
Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2020 | 2021* |
| 36.8% | 36.5% | 36.8% | 49.8% | 51.1% |
*Estimate
Source
Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2020 | 2021* |
| –1.7% | –1.5% | –3.5% | –8.3% | –5.2% |
*Estimate
Source
Government bond ratings
Standard & Poor's: BBB–
Moody's: Baa3
Standard & Poor's / Moody's (January 2022)
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Market value of publicly traded shares
USD 25.5 billion (2020)
World Bank / Market capitalization
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Current account balance
USD -16.4 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
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Current account balance by percentage of GDP
-5.7% (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)
37.3% (2020)
World Bank - World Development Indicators (updated Feb 2022)
Shares in world total merchandising export
0.4% (2020)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Shares in world total commercial services export
0.5% (2020)
Total exports
USD 92.8 billion (2020 estimate)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Export commodities
Cars and vehicle parts, insulated wiring, refined petroleum, electrical control boards, seats (2019)
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Import commodities
Cars and vehicle parts, crude petroleum, packaged medicines, insulated wiring, broadcasting equipment (2019)
Exports - major partners
Germany 22%, Italy 10%, France 7% (2019)
Imports - major partners
Germany 19%, Italy 9%, Hungary 7%, Poland 6%, China 5%, France 5% (2019)
FDI inflows
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 6.2 billion | USD 5.8 billion | USD 2.3 billion |
FDI outflows
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 379 million | USD 363 million | USD 202 million |
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| USD 6.3 million | USD 3.4 million | USD 1.3 million | N/A |
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014
N/A
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015
N/A
Best countries for doing business
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking:
55 out of 190 countries
Subcategories:
Starting a Business: 91 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 147 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 157 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 46 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 25 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 61 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 32 out of 190 countries
Trading across Borders: 1 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 19 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 56 out of 190 countries
World Bank - Doing Business 2020
Source
Global competitiveness ranking
43 out of 141 (2019)
World Economic Forum / Global competitiveness ranking
Index of Economic Freedom
Ranking: 47 / Score: 67.1 (Moderately Free)
The Heritage Foundation - 2022 Index of Economic Freedom
Source
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Languages
Romanian (official) 85.4%, Hungarian 6.3%, Romani 1.2%, other 1%, unspecified 6.1% (2011 est.)
Religions
Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 81.9%, Protestant (various denominations including Reformed and Pentecostal) 6.4%, Roman Catholic 4.3%, other (includes Muslim) 0.9%, none or atheist 0.2%, unspecified 6.3% (2011 est.)
Total population
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 |
| 23.2 million | 22.4 million | 20.2 million | 19.8 million | 19.3 million |
*Estimate
Source
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Urban population as % of total population
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2020 |
| 34.2% | 46.1% | 53% | 54.2% |
Literacy
Total population: 98.8%
Male: 99.1%
Female: 98.6% (2018)
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
% of population living on less than $3.10 a day
4.1% (last available estimate, 2019)
Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)
34.8 (last available estimate, 2019)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Source
Freedom House rating
Total score: 83/100
Status: Free
Political Rights: 35/40
Civil Liberties: 48/60 (2022)
Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population
Fixed: 15.7%
Mobile: 117.4% (2020) (fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)