Two-thirds of the CEOs in Romania expect an improvement in the country’s economic situation next year. However, almost all (98%) consider that the underground economy is still a problem, compared to only 73% in the region, according to a KPMG study quoted by local Mediafax.

Romania’s CEOs are among the most optimistic in the region. Some 51% of them are confident that the economy will get better whereas 24% don’t expect any special changes. Only 15% believe that the economy will get worse.

KPMG conducted the survey online in September. About 731 CEOs and company owners from Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia submitted their answers.

Among the respondents from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), 45% of them said that the fierce competition would limit the rise in their turnover next year.

Some 53% of the managers from the CEE countries said that they didn’t intend to change the number of employees next year whereas 36% of them wanted to hire new people. Over half (58%) of all respondents planned to increase their employees’ salaries.

Erste: Romanians will spend more next year, the economy will grow

Financial analysts’ confidence in the Romanian economy goes up

Romania’s underground economy is more than a quarter of its GDP

Diana Mesesan, diana@romania-insider.com