What do the 14 economic indicators and 14 events selected by Ziarul Financiar, which have reflected and marked this period from ZF’s launch until the present, have to say about Romania?
They clearly say the country is moving ahead and becoming more colorful. Wages are better, exports are stronger, budget revenues are 5-6 times higher, everyone has a cell phone and a trip to the Western world is no longer a myth, but (almost) like a trip to a town nearby.
The public and external debts are continually rising, while foreign investments and remittances from Romanians working abroad are not doing very well.
In 1998 the net average wage was EUR110. Now it is EUR350. This is still a long way away from the EUR2,200 average wage in France, but a tripling in 14 years is not bad. Why wages have not followed the same trend as exports is in fact the question. Exports amounted to EUR7.4 billion in 2008 and today they stand at EUR45 billion, so they went up six-fold.
A net average wage of EUR700 would have been something else. Wages have not been correlated with GDP growth either, because the GDP grew four-fold, from EUR37 billion in 2008 to EUR137 billion today.
But the price of growth has been quite heavy. Romania’s foreign debt went up ten-fold from 1998 until the present and loans to individuals and to companies went up from EUR5 billion to EUR50 billion today.
Keeping inflation below 5%-6% a year is perhaps the greatest achievement of this period.
The overall picture is brighter than during the bleak ’90s, when inflation was above 50%, when those who had a $100 note would treasure it.
May Romania keep on track, however tortuous its path may be.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)