Austerity can be seen in economic growth: the economy decreased in the first quarter by 1.7% year/year. Consumption is falling, industry is falling, inflation jumped by 10%, salaries are increasing on paper, but real incomes are lower than last year. The European Union is growing, even if timidly, only Romania is decreasing

Romania’s economy decreased in the first quarter of the year by 1.7% in the gross series compared to the similar period in 2025, and by 1.5% in the adjusted series, according to the data published on Wednesday by the INS. It is the largest decrease in the EU, with the exception of Ireland, which is a curiosity that will probably be taught in economics schools: in one quarter it increases by 8%, in another it decreases by 8%. The data of the National Institute of Statistics of Romania show that, compared to the last quarter of 2025, in Q1/2026 GDP decreased by 0.2%. The evolution of the first three months of 2026 comes after in Q4/2025 GDP contracted in real terms, by 1.4% compared to the similar period of the previous year and by 1.8% compared to Q3 of 2025. You may be interested and: Consumption decreased by 3% in March, at an annual rate. That’s slightly better than the January cut, which was 9%. Industrial production decreased by 2% in Q1, y/y. The index of real wage earnings was 95% in March 2026 compared to March 2025. That is, purchasing power decreases significantly, as prices rise. And the increase in prices is seen in consumption. As consumption decreases, companies increase prices to preserve their profit margin. This is the price of past political decisions. And when the government decided to increase salaries in the budget system and when the next government decided to increase VAT to compensate for past losses that could not be covered from budget revenues.

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