It is true that Romania is now going through more difficult times for its economy – high inflation, economic growth slowdown, large deficits, and the need for fiscal adjustments, but the growth potential is there, it remains, which is why we believe we can grow further and attract more business, says Agnieszka Gajewska, who will take the reins of the operations of audit and consulting firm PwC in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania, on July 1. PwC CEE covers 27 countries, with 47 offices, nearly 13,000 employees, and total annual revenue of more than EUR1 billion euros.
However, our business model needs to change; we need to move from hourly rates to integrated projects for clients who are interested in clear, measurable results, she told ZF in an exclusive interview.
We need to add more value to the services we provide to clients in R&D; we can no longer be mere outsourcing centers, especially since there are centers with lower costs out there, she added.
She says she wants to see greater centralization of PwC’s resources in Central and Eastern Europe, from which integrated solutions for clients can be provided.
Not every country can have its own AI; we cannot have AI centers, for example, in Romania, the Czech Republic, and Poland at the same time. We need to centralize our resources, she added.
“AI will radically change the market, but we must be part of this transformation; we must be able to respond to market changes faster. We must be a key partner for our clients in this complex transformation, offering them innovative solutions.”
Cybersecurity will be a key focus of this transformation project, given the accelerated digitization of businesses and the economy, and we will invest significant resources in this area.
“Customer trust in the services we can provide will be our currency.”
After the fall of communism, Central and Eastern Europe experienced rapid growth thanks to foreign investment, multinationals, and EU funds, which allowed countries in the region to significantly narrow the gap to Western Europe.
In a world where we see geopolitical changes overnight, is the growth model based on foreign investment and multinational corporations still valid, given that public discourse is shifting toward nationalism?
I believe so; foreign capital must continue to flow in – we cannot do everything with our own money alone, we still need multinationals; we need foreign investment, but also local investment, she says.
Governments must do more to support the development of small and medium-sized local companies, using the model of Italy or Spain; especially in these difficult times, local entrepreneurs must not be left to fend for themselves, they must be supported to grow, she noted.
Romania is the second-largest market in the region, after Poland, and still has much to offer, particularly in terms of development and support of local Romanian companies to expand in the region, following Poland’s model, she says.
Agnieszka Gajewska was in Bucharest in early March for the presentation of the Romanian results of the PwC Global CEO Survey 2026 – Leadership in the Age of AI: Ambition in an Uncertain World.
She said that this year’s survey highlighted one clear finding – there is an urgent need for reinvention.
Most CEOs devote a large part of their time to short-term issues, but a bold, long-term vision is also needed, one that includes accelerating digital transformation, strengthening artificial intelligence capabilities, and integrating resilience into business models, so that today’s cautious optimism – driven by the challenging times we are going through, can translate into sustainable growth tomorrow.
Global audit and consulting firm PwC is marking 35 years since entering the Romanian market this year, immediately after the fall of communism, when it was still unclear which path Romania would take.
“Many years have passed, but the question we face now is what we need to do differently going forward so as to remain relevant to our clients.”
Agnieszka Gajewska CV
* PhD in Economics and ACCA certification
* 20-year career at PwC in audit and transactions
* In the 2000s, she worked in London for international banks.