Joining the Land Schengen Area represents a welcome breath of fresh air for the Romanian road transport sector and a stimulus for foreign investors, Lucian Anghel, deputy CEO of Libra Internet Bank, told Agerpres on Thursday.

“Joining the Land Schengen Area represents a welcome breath of fresh air for the Romanian road transport sector, a sector that has contributed about 7% to economic growth in the last ten years. In 2024, the activity of this sector deteriorated, with turnover in real terms decreasing on average by 15% compared to the similar period in 2023. The fluidization of transport is a key element invoked by transporters, which can help increase turnover and profitability of this field of activity,” said Lucian Anghel, according to Agerpres.

He stated that transport activities, especially land transport, are the second largest generator of foreign exchange for Romania’s current account, after IT & telecommunications. The net foreign exchange contribution of transport in the period 2014-2023 amounted to 42 billion euros, largely limiting the increase in the current account deficit.

“Secondly, joining the Schengen Area may represent a stimulus for foreign investors, but this will also depend on Romania’s capacity to support the financial effort necessary to develop road infrastructure. Attracting foreign investment is particularly important in the context in which in Romania these companies with foreign capital generate over 70% of exports, and the increase in export capacity has beneficial effects on the external deficit. Other countries in the region such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have foreign investments per capita almost 80% higher on average than Romania,” also stated Lucian Anghel.