The Romanian leu (plural "lei"), often denoted by RON, is the national currency of Romania. Subdivided into 100 bani (singular "ban"), the leu was established in 1880 after the National Bank of Romania was founded. While Moldova was a province of Romania (1918-1940), the Romanian leu circulated in that area. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the independent state of Moldova in 1993, the Moldovan leu, named after its Romanian predecessor, was established. Romania will adopt the Euro (EUR) in 2014.
| Moody's Rating |
| B2 |
| S&P Rating |
| BB- |
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Sovereign credit ratings play an important part in determining a country's access to international capital markets, and the terms of that access. Sovereign ratings help to foster dramatic growth, stability, and efficiency of international and domestic markets.
What does it look like?
Political Structure
Romania is a democratic republic, with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch of the government consists of two chambers, the Senate (137 members) and the Chamber of Deputies (332 members). Elections for both chambers take place every four years.
The President of Romania leads the executive branch and is elected by popular vote every five years (though until 2005, elections were every four years). The president appoints a prime minister to head the government.
The government of Romania is subject to a parliamentary vote of approval.
Prominent Figures
President: Traian Basescu
Prime Minister: Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Governor of the Central (National) Bank of Romania: Prof. Mugur Isarescu, Ph. D.
Key Economic Factors
Economic Overview: Romania began the transition from Communism in 1989 with a largely outdated industrial foundation and lack of productivity in output. After an extremely difficult three- year recession, the country began to recover at the turn of the century (2000), due to a strong demand in European Union export markets. Despite a major slowdown over the following two years, strong domestic activity in construction, agriculture and consumption allowed for a 4% cushion of growth. In 2001, the government signed an IMF standby agreement which was approved in 2003 (the first time Romania successfully concluded an IMF agreement since the 1989 revolution). This move was accompanied by slow but steady gains in privatization, deficit reduction and the curbing of inflation. In July 2004, the IMF's executive board approved a 24-month standby agreement for $367M; this agreement is merely precautionary, according to most Romanian authorities. As for Romania's future, the country must more seriously consider its widespread poverty, and corruption in the business environment.
Key Industries: Textiles, footwear, light machinery, auto assembly, mining, timber, construction materials, metallurgy, chemicals, food processing, and petroleum refining.
Agricultural Products: Wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, sunflower seed, potatoes, grapes, eggs and sheep.
Imports: Machinery and equipment, fuels and minerals, chemicals, textile and products, basic metals and agricultural products.
Exports: Textiles and footwear, metals and metal products, machinery and equipment, minerals and fuels, chemicals and agricultural products.
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