Romanian companies are concerned about the slowdown in economic growth, the expected increase in unemployment and high inflation, according to the Deloitte 2023 Romania CFO Survey, conducted at the end of last year among over 120 chief financial officers (CFOs) based in our country.
The survey reveals a sharp drop in the Romanian CFOs’ economic growth expectations, as only 17% of the respondents believe the economy will grow by more than 2.5% in 2023, compared with 57% of last year’s participants. The majority of the surveyed CFOs (57%) expect an economic growth of maximum 1.5%, which shows more optimism than across the Central European region, where nearly three-quarters (73%) of the participants see economic growth of less than 1.5% for their country this year.
More than half (55%) of the Romanian CFOs believe the economic conditions will deteriorate and lead to higher unemployment this year, compared with just a third (33%) last year, but, in this case too, the change is less dramatic than in the CE region, where the percentage of CFOs expecting higher unemployment more than doubled from 33% to 68%, with particularly negative prospects in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic (over 85% of respondents).
Almost two-thirds (63%) of Romanian CFOs expect inflation level to further increase in 2023, amid supply chain disruptions which pushed up the prices of raw materials, commodities, energy and transport, which have ultimately led to higher consumer prices.
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