Romanians do not believe in the economy, but they are increasingly optimistic about incomes and jobs

Romanians do not trust the local economy, but seem increasingly confident about their living standards, jobs and incomes, according to a wide-ranging market analysis that shows that mistrust has reached an all-time high in 2025, standing at 70%.

Romanian investors are pessimistic about the evolution of the economy, but confident in their incomes

“The feeling of distrust in the Romanian economy remained at a high level in the fourth quarter of 2025, with 70% of individual Romanian investors declaring that they do not trust its prospects, the same percentage as in the third quarter of this year”says the latest eToro Retail Investor Beat survey.

This is not surprising, say eToro analysts, given that Romania continues to face slow growth, high budget deficits and high inflation. The uncertainty generated by the recent reforms to reduce the budget deficit and increase taxes may explain the higher level of distrust in the evolution of the economy.

“Romania continues to have the highest inflation in the EU, and investors are preparing for a new series of tax increases in 2026. If we compare the survey results from this quarter with those from the previous quarter, we can see an increase in the number of investors who said they are not very confident, from 43% to 47%, but also a decrease in the percentage of those who are not at all confident in the local economy, from 27% to 23%“, the analysis shows.

However, a positive sign is rising income confidence and the cost of living. In this quarter, 70% of Romanian individual investors are confident about their standard of living, compared to 63% in the previous quarter. Among age groups, the youngest generation, Gen Z, is once again the most trusted at 76%, followed by Gen X (73%), Millennials (69%) and Boomers at 45%.

The latest survey, covering the fourth quarter, shows an increase in the level of confidence in job security, which rose to 74% from the previous percentage of 69% of respondents. However, it did not return to the 77% of the second quarter. Generation Z (ages 18-27) are the most confident (81%), followed by Boomers (ages 60-78) at 76% and Millennials (ages 28-43) at 73%, while Generation X (ages 44-59) show the lowest level of confidence in job security (71%).

Inflation remains the main concern of Romanians

Inflation remains the main concern of individual investors in Romania, with 26% of them considering it the main risk for their investment portfolios. This is followed by a possible recession of the global economy (25%), the state of the Romanian economy (18%) and an international conflict (13%).

This quarter's results show that stock markets are not the same as the economy. Financial markets look to the future, consider expectations of asset prices and future profits, while the real economy measures current and past output, employment and income. While distrust in the Romanian economy continues to be high, confidence in the investment portfolios of individual Romanian investors increased to 82% from 72% in the previous quarter. This should come as no surprise, given that the Bucharest Stock Exchange's BET index is up more than 43% this year, while Europe's STOXX 600 is up more than 14% and the US S&P 500 has gained more than 16% since the start of the year.

Half (50%) of Romanian individual investors have local stocks in their portfolios, 42% have foreign stocks, 52% have some form of crypto-assets, while three-quarters have cash, including savings accounts. When asked in which sectors they intend to increase their investments, Romanians answered technology (20%), financial services (18%), energy (15%) and real estate (10%). After reporting the financial results for the third quarter, these are some of the sectors with the biggest increases in profits, in Europe, including Romania, but also across the Atlantic. And investors have noticed this.

In the context of uncertainty, persistent high inflation, tax increases and GDP stagnation, Romanian individual investors, in their vast majority, remain pessimistic about the prospects of the local economy, say analysts. However, their growing optimism about personal finances and investment returns shows a clear disconnect between their perception of the economy and their sentiment about financial markets, especially after a strong year to date.