EUR8.8 billion direct impact represents the gross operating surplus, taxes and staff expenses, EUR2.6 billion indirect impact – economic transactions with Romanian suppliers of industrial enterprises and EUR2.2 billion induced impact – salaries spent in the national economy by employees directly and indirectly supported.
“We all know the IT industry is one of the basic pillars of Romania’s economic development, that our specialists are among the best in the world and, although the industry is constantly growing and making relevant contributions to the state budget, we still face with a shortage of labor. We conducted this study precisely in order to have an accurate picture of the industry and to present different scenarios for the evolution of the industry in the next four years. Depending on the measures taken or not as soon as possible, Romania may become a technological hub in the region or may lose its competitiveness relative to the IT industry, with considerable effects for the national economy, in both situations,” said ANIS President Mihai Matei.
At the same time, the software and services industry is growing three times faster than the economy. Romania’s economy has grown by 6% in the last five years analysed (2015-2020), whereas the industry saw an increase of 17%.
The survey also shows that some 270,000 employees are supported in total by the software and IT services industry, respectively all employees who exist, on average, in two counties in Romania. Although labor demand in the IT&C sector and, implicitly, in the software and IT services industry, is constantly growing, there is a significant shortage of specialists, of approximately 10,000 per year.
“Out of the more than 203,000 IT&C specialists (in all companies, including those with secondary activity in the sector), the total number of employees benefiting from the income tax exemption, as a result of the activity of creating computer programs, is approximately 104,000, respectively a percentage of 51%. However, the software and IT services industry brings to the state budget revenues from contributions and fees of as much as EUR1.3-1.4 billion, which means an employee in the IT&C sector brings in almost two times more contributions to the state budget, compared to the average in the national economy. Also, according to the ANIS report, for each and every euro the Romanian State does not collect from the income tax, an employee in the software and IT industry spends EUR46 in the economy”, Matei also said.
Romania currently has the third largest base of specialists in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and a growth 1.2 times higher than the region. Although our country has the lowest density of companies compared to neighboring states and a relatively low performance in innovation, tax facilities are currently a regional competitive advantage. According to ANIS representatives, in the absence of additional measures to support the IT industry, competitiveness in the region will erode. Making a set of scenarios for the future of the industry, ANIS estimates that if the current situation is maintained (the baseline scenario), the industry can contribute to GDP with a gross value added of as much as EUR 17.4 billion in 2025. On the other hand, the value could increase to EUR20.4 billion if measures are put in place to continuously improve competitiveness, or it could fall to EUR15.7 billion if there is a sharp deterioration in competitiveness.