“Romania had an extremely important legacy in 1918 (the time of its unification i.e.): the work well done, acquired over five decades from 1866 through 1913, when it had built very good schools, roads, railways and major projects such as the Cernavoda bridge constructed by engineer Anghel Saligny. When the first train crossed the bridge, Saligny stood under it in a boat together with his family because he guaranteed the workmanship with his life,” said Adrian Vasilescu, Romania’s central bank governor’s advisor.
Romania’s economy accounted for 0.8% of the world’s gross domestic product in 1913 and ranked 11th in Europe, very close to Austria, which accounted for 0.86% and Netherlands, 0.91%. It accounted for a higher share of the world’s GDP than Sweden or Denmark. By 1990, its economy dropped in the ranking to 17th in Europe and 0.3% of the world’s GDP, behind Greece, Denmark and Finland, three countries with lower population numbers than Romania.
It currently accounts for 0.2% of the world’s GDP.
The country had 220 banks in business in the first decades of the twentieth century. Its central bank, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) was the largest and was listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, followed by Banca Generala Romana (German-held), Banca de Credit Roman (Austrian-held), Banca Marmorosh, Blank & Co (Hungarian, German and French-held), as well as Romanian-owned banks like Banca Agricola.
The banking system of 2012 comprises 41 banks, 85% of which controlled by foreign groups.
In 1914, the leu was equal to the Swiss and French francs, and one pound sterling could be bought for RON25.5, while a US dollar cost about RON5. Almost a hundred years later in November 2012, one Swiss franc equals RON34.74, one sterling pound RON5.55 and one-dollar RON3.4.
Romania had not even known inflation until World War I. The soundness of the leu was helped by political stability, the active trade balance and the constant economic expansion. In 2012, inflation reached 5% in October.
A little more than 1,100 industrial companies were in business in 1915, the largest of which was Caile Ferate Romane (Romanian Railways). Oil production stood at 1.8 million tons about a hundred years ago, while today it stands at 4 million tons.
A hundred years ago, Romania comprised only Moldova and Wallachia, and had a population of 7.2 million people compared 19 million at the moment when the country also includes Transylvania.
The average industrial worker earned RON60.8 a month (the leu was backed by gold in those days). A top banker earned RON900 a month. The current average salary is RON1,600 and a top banker makes more than RON60,000 a month.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)