The Government is hoping this strategy will help Romania rank among Europe’s ten largest economies by 2020 and have a “significant contribution worldwide” through the development of these sectors.
The Government also plans to reduce the number of taxes from 39 in 2014 to 13 in 2020, improve Romania’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index to 40 from 69, reduce the underground economy from 30% of the GDP in 2014 to at most 15% of the GDP (the EU average) by 2020.
Other proposed measures target to increase the weight of creative industries in the GDP to 10% from 7%, build 500 kilometers of highway (of which 250 km using EU funds and 250 km using state budget funds) and 600 km of regional infrastructure, reduce primary energy consumption by 19% in 2020, compared to 16.6% in 2012.
The Government also aims to increase the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) per 1,000 inhabitants, from 23 in 2013 to 35 in 2020, double exports’ global market share from the current level of nearly 0.4% in 2013, as well as boost the share of high-tech products in exports to 10% in 2020.
As regards the EU funds, the absorption rate stood at 11.5% at the end of 2012. For the 2014-2020 period, Romania has received additional EU funds (the available amount reaches EUR39.3 billion, of which EUR21.8 billion in structural and cohesion funds). By comparison, the funds allocated to Romania for the 2007-2013 period stood at EUR34.6 billion and EUR19.7 billion, respectively.
The strategy presents a series of comparative data regarding several economic indicators of Romania for 2013, with respect to 2008, such as the share of Romania’s GDP in EU’s GDP, which stood at 1.1% in 2013, the same as in 2008.
Other vulnerabilities include, among others, a low absorption rate of EU funds by the central and local administrations, a low market share held by the services sector -the most important economic sector weighing 67% in the country’s GDP, as well as the imbalance triggered by the fact that only seven counties secure 60% of the country’s exports.
Other risk factors at macroeconomic level consist in a poor tax collection rate and high tax evasion, the sustainability of the pension system, the vulnerabilities of the healthcare system and the arrears of state-owned companies.
The draft shows that, despite its economic growth, Romania is a country facing “major social issues” which mostly target the large share of people living in poverty and the risk of social exclusion.