10 economic sectors to receive special attention from the Government

Romania will focus on developing 10 economic sectors in a bid to boost competitiveness by 2020, according to a national strategy project. Tourism, auto-industry, IT, energy, agriculture, textiles and pharma are among the ten sectors in question.

Furniture, creative arts and food industry are also in the mix.

The Government argues that through this strategy, Romania will become one of the top 10 European Union economies by 2020 and the country will have “a significant contribution to the global economy”. The executive aims to achieve this objective by restructuring the economic sectors in question “in superior competitive directions”.

“The next seven years will be critical for Romania’s economical development and the country’s strategic priorities, established in the present document, are meant to create the necessary conditions for Romania to be able to compete efficiently with the rest of European states”, according to the project.

The economy must reach a critical mass of SME’s, the project reads, and every law that will be passed must take into account the effect it will have on SME’s. A “buffer period” of six months between passing a new law that affects the business environment and enforcing it might also be implemented.

Other measures and objectives included in the strategy
– The Government wants to reduce the number of taxes being paid from 39 to 13
– Reducing the grey economy from 30 percent GDP to 15 percent of GDP by 2020;
– Creative industries should account for 10 percent of GDP instead of 7 percent where they are at now
– 500 kilometeres of highways to be built by 2020 and 600 kilometers of regional infrastructure
– the government is also planning on increasing the number of SME’s from 1,000 of SMEs for every 23 inhabitants to 35 inhabitants
– In Agriculture, the Government wants to double productivity in the field, from the current level of EUR 4,328.