The North Eastern part of Romania has not witnessed significant improvements in terms of FDI, mostly due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure.
In 2020, investors were looking at the way the pandemic was handled in destination countries, apart from social and political stability, labor supply and cost-competitiveness of the country. In Romania, the decrease in FDI was significant, but Romania’s capabilities in the IT sector, logistics projects and retail development projects attracted investors.
“The pandemic has modified global economic trends, causing changes in investment plans and changing the factors investors take into consideration when assessing investment destinations. In order to make the growth of our country a sustainable and healthy one, Romania must establish itself as a stable, attractive investment destination,” said Bogdan Ion, Country Managing Partner EY Romania & Moldova and Chief Operating Officer for EY South-East & Central Europe and Central Asia (CESA).
Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi represent the location of almost 70% of all FDI projects of 2021, clearly demonstrating the preference of foreign investors for large, developed destinations.
In the next 12 months, 66% of investors plan to establish or expand operations in Romania (above the European average of 41%), compared with just 27% in 2020.
Infrastructure, crisis management strategy, as well as the overall level of technology adoption are cited as the main factors considered by investors when thinking about investments in Romania.
On long term, 41% of investors believe Romania’s attractiveness will improve during the next three years and the main priorities should be: supporting SMEs (36%), encouraging environmental policies and attitudes (33%) and improving product quality and added value of services (31%), the survey found.