Almost two-thirds of companies are financed from their own funds

Romania remains the European country with the lowest degree of banking and, moreover, where people choose to work with a bank, they do so only to use the simplest instrument, the bank deposit, in conditions where cash is king.

It is well known that although SMEs represent the majority of firms in Romania, large companies generate a much larger share of added value. And this distribution of added value directly influences both the financing needs and the capacity for financing in the market.

The loans contracted by non-financial corporations represented only 37% of GDP in 2024, well below the EU average, while commercial credit and advances held a large share of total liabilities, the report from the Commission shows. This is most likely due to the weak capitalization of many firms, which limits their access to external financing.