Romania has experienced strong growth over the past two decades, with incomes and productivity converging towards OECD levels. Continued reforms to improve public finances, strengthen competitiveness and promote workforce participation are needed to boost Romania’s growth prospects and living standards further, according to a new OECD report.
The OECD Economic Survey of Romania projects GDP growth to reach 1.0% this year before rising to 2.2% next year, after growth of 0.7% last year. Inflation is expected to remain elevated at 6.6% in 2026 before declining to 3.0% in 2027 as the impact of past tax measures fades.
“Romania has achieved high income growth, driven by significant productivity gains. Looking ahead, strong fiscal discipline needs to remain a priority to address persistent inflation and rising spending pressures from population ageing,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, presenting the Survey in Bucharest alongside Romania’s Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. “Boosting innovation, skills and digitalisation will be important to strengthen competitiveness. Reforms to health, labour market and skills policies would facilitate higher employment rates among older workers, women and young people.”
Improving spending efficiency remains a priority for ensuring sound public finances and supporting resilient growth. Continuing efforts to broaden the tax base and improving tax compliance through further digitalisation and risk-based audits would help contribute to fiscal sustainability. As further consolidation efforts are required beyond 2026, medium-term budget planning, based on performance-based budgeting and spending reviews, would help ensure fiscal discipline and effective allocation of public funds.
Better integration of Romanian enterprises into global supply chains is needed to unlock economic potential. Further efforts to simplify and digitalise business licensing frameworks would lower administrative costs and foster business dynamism. Improved research and development incentives, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, would spur innovation. Investing in human capital, including by fully implementing the comprehensive education reform and better aligning vocational education and training with labour market needs, would help increase the supply of advanced skills needed to move further up the value chain.
Raising the labour market participation of older workers, women and young people would help mitigate demographic challenges due to population ageing and emigration. Healthy ageing – through preventative care, early detection and the promotion of healthier lifestyles – as well as lifelong learning and flexible work arrangements would boost older workers’ employability. Improved return-to-work incentives after giving birth, such as expanded childcare and shorter parental leave, and new workplace anti-discrimination measures would encourage women’s labour force participation. More effective active labour market policies, including better outreach to inactive young people and access to job-relevant training, would further support youth employment.
Climate change poses a significant threat to Romania, particularly through floods and droughts. Better enforcement of rules against construction in flood-prone areas, improved flood defence systems, and expanded disaster insurance coverage would increase resilience to risks. Modernising infrastructure to prevent water loss and inefficient irrigation, along with updating wastewater treatment practices, will help address water scarcity concerns.
See the Overview of the Economic Survey of Romania with key findings and charts (this link can be used in media articles).
For further information, journalists are invited to contact Lawrence Speer in the OECD Media Office (tel. +33 1 45 24 81 18).
Note to Editors:
The OECD is an international organisation that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. Working with member and partner countries, it provides a forum where governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to economic, social and governance challenges.
The OECD’s 38 Members are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Romania is one of the eight countries (the other seven are Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Indonesia, Peru and Thailand) with whom accession discussions are currently underway. The OECD Council opened accession discussions with Romania in early 2022 and, in 10 June 2022, the Council at Ministerial Level adopted the Roadmap for the Accession Process of Romania, setting out the terms, conditions and process of the accession of Romania to the Organisation. In accordance with this Roadmap, Romania has been engaging in an in-depth technical dialogue with OECD technical committees, composed of expert policy makers from each of the OECD Members, with a view to aligning Romania’s legislation, policies and practices with OECD legal instruments, best policies and practices covering multiple areas of government policy, including economic policy but also labour market and social policy, education, and health.
OECD accession is a transformative process, resulting in better outcomes for Romania and its citizens. Throughout the accession process, the OECD has been working closely with Romania to support the adoption of long-lasting reforms for this purpose. Romania also has played an active role in the OECD South East Europe Regional Programme since its establishment in 2000, sharing policies and good practices with other economies in the region and contributing to regional policy dialogue and peer learning.
See more on Romania and the OECD: https://www.oecd.org/en/countries/romania.html.
Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.