Investors plan to establish or expand operations in Romania in the next 12 months

In the nest 12 month, 66% of investors plan to establish or expand operations in Romania in the next 12 months (above European average – 41%), EY reports.

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.

On long term, 41% of investors believe Romania’s attractiveness will improve during the next three years. Thus, the main priorities should be: supporting SMEs (36%), encouraging environmental policies and attitudes (33%) and improving product quality and added value of services (31%).

In line with the overall European market and the previous year trends, the software & IT sector in Romania attracted the largest numbers of FDI projects, with a 32% market share.

Wholesale, retail & distribution sector ranked second, with a 18% market share.

The sector generating the largest number of jobs, occupying the third place, is set to be the electronics industry.

Last year’s first runner-up, business services sector, suffered a substantial decrease (-10% in market share).

Large cities, still the most popular FDI destination

Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi, these 5 cities represent the location of almost 70% of all FDI projects of 2021. Interesting, Bucharest has been the top FDI destination in Romania for more than a decade.

In terms of types of investment projects, logistics dominated the FDI arena, with almost one third of the projects announced for 2021 focusing on this type of operations.

Sales & marketing projects follow on the second place, and surprisingly, on the third place, research and development projects.

The latter type of activity shows a new interest coming from foreign investors in this area, considering Romania has not attracted R&D many projects in previous years.