What Romanians spend their money on

Romanians are spending more and more money for consumption purposes, particularly on food and non-alcoholic beverages, which reflects the low living standards, and salaries are the most important streams of income, accounting for over half of their resources.

The total average monthly income per household went down slightly in the second quarter of the year compared with the first three months from 2,342 RON to 2,337 RON, National Statistics Institute data reveal.
A slightly downward trend was registered for average monthly spending, too, with the level going down from 2,071 to 2,051 RON, that is 87.5% of the total incomes.
“The structure of people’s spending reflects the low living standard in Romania, because a significant part of the people’s income goes to consumption (87.5%). Still, one can see a decline in such spending by 0.5% compared with the same quarter in 2009, as a result of the slight change in people’s behaviour in favour of savings,” commented Melania Hăncilă, Volksbank’s chief economist.