The pandemic caused by coronavirus currently puts a lot of pressure on companies, and over 58% of respondents expect an economic recovery only in 2022 or even later, according to the survey conducted by AHK Romania in October 2020.

“The general situation of the companies has worsened, but most German companies in Romania still see the opportunities in the current crisis and accept the challenges. The Crisis in particular has a catalytic role in structural change in all economic sectors. The pace and pressure for change are clearly increasing,” says Sebastian Metz, General Manager of AHK Romania.

The current situation of German companies in Romania is appreciated by most respondents as “satisfactory”. The survey shows that only 35% of German companies appreciate the situation of their company as good, much less than last autumn (2019: 60%). Over 55% of respondents consider it satisfactory, and the remaining 9.6% appreciate the current situation of the company as difficult (2019: 8.3%).

Regarding the evolution of the activity, the companies are less confident this autumn, which is understandable against the background of the insecurity caused by the pandemic. Only a quarter (26%) of the surveyed companies believe that their activity will evolve better in the next 12 months (2019: 35%), while 25% believe that the evolution of their activities in Romania will be weaker (2019: 13.3%).

Regarding the situation in the next 12 months, over 40% of those surveyed expect a negative evolution (2019: 30.5%), almost a quarter are optimistic and believe in a short-term recovery in the medium term. 31% do not expect any change (2019: 57.6%).