Bucharest, March 29, 2016: AmCham Romania launched the second edition of Romania Competitiveness Report (Report), which quantifies the impact of public policies on competitiveness, reporting on Romania’s performance compared to the European average, as well as benchmarking it against six other countries in the region, and capturing the dynamics of the selected indicators since the December 2011 Competitiveness Report.
The AmCham Report recognizes Romania’s positive developments in the global competitiveness rankings, nevertheless pointing out that Romania lags significantly behind compared to the EU average in terms of GDP/capita, one of the most important macro-economic indicators. Despite significant improvements since 2011, Romania’s GDP/capita in 2014 stood at a mere 27% of the EU average. Overall, the balance of advantages and disadvantages remains similar to 2011.
In line with the previous edition, this Report features an analysis of the economic results, legislative framework, public administration, physical infrastructure, human resources as well as fiscal and monetary policy, based on 83 indicators (25 competitive advantages, 43 disadvantages and 15 neutral).
Some of the general indicators that show a positive development include: the fight against corruption, the level of internet access and the share of high tech and medium-high tech employment.
The overall workforce skills, especially in terms of technical and language proficiency, is among the areas appreciated by the business community. However, this key driver for attracting investments is being affected in the medium and long term by the underfunding of the educational system (58% compared to the EU average), the low level of alignment of the active workforce to the labor market needs, and the brain drain phenomenon.
The Report also includes the results of an executive survey conducted among 200 company CEOs regarding Romania’s business environment, and a set of strategic recommendations for policy makers. Despite a poor perception in some key areas of policy, 88% of the CEOs have declared that their investment in Romania is meeting or surpassing expectations. According to the CEO Survey, the outlook from an investment perspective in Romania is positive, with 95% of leaders saying that their company’s investment in Romania will increase or remain at the same level. These plans translate in similar expectations regarding the number of employees.
The Report identifies seven priority areas requiring immediate intervention: changes in terms of population and health; infrastructure; brain drain; research, development and innovation; agriculture; education; policy coherence.
“Romania benefits from remarkable potential for development and the current circumstances point to investment opportunities in various sectors that are being revamped. Under the pressure of complex and accelerated global changes, Romania’s efforts to gain a competitive edge must be scaled up and strategically upheld to be aligned more efficiently to international geo-political, economic and technological developments. The responsibility for change lies with each of us, in view of achieving the common goals of security, democracy and prosperity. Romania’s transformation is a #collective effort, and the evolution needs to be reflected by the whole spectrum of the Romanian society.
AmCham Romania is committed to calibrating a long-term strategic Country Project focused on capturing systemic actions towards pursuing both the national interest and the competitive values of Romania, through an intensive engagement of all relevant stakeholders in view of a vibrant country vision to the benefit of our children", concluded the AmCham Romania President, Daniela Nemoianu.
For further reference with respect to domain analysis, details about the methodology, recommendations or conclusions of the survey conducted among senior executives, please access the full report on the Publications section of AmCham Romania website - here (
RO &
EN).
