Romania’s IT industry looks to 2024 with moderate optimism, survey says

Romania’s IT industry expresses moderate optimism for 2024 after 2023 concluded with results below expectations, according to data collected in the ANIS Sentiment Survey 2024.

ANIS, the Employers' Association of the Software and IT Services Industry, conducted the survey in December 2023 among its member companies, which represent approximately 65% of the entire software and IT services sector in terms of revenue. 

The survey revealed that year-end results fell short of the estimates made at the beginning of last year, and the fiscal changes in 2023, considered to have a major (34%) and medium (62%) impact, have led to relatively less optimistic forecasts for 2024. 

"Both the data from the ANIS Sentiment Survey and the direct information from ANIS members confirm moderate optimism in the Romanian IT industry for 2024. Optimism is based on the projects that each company has in the pipeline, largely in foreign markets where our companies excel (in the first 9 months of 2023, the industry provided Romania with a record trade surplus of EUR 3.7 billion), but also on the specialists trained through the companies' own efforts in the previous years of accelerated growth. The evident need for digitization of public services and the economy in general could be a factor of optimism, but many companies do not see it as a definite opportunity for their business. There is also a dose of pessimism that comes mainly from the unpredictability of public policies and fiscal instability, which, as seen last year, can have a significant impact on most companies," said Corina Vasile, ANIS Executive Director. 

Optimism in the Romanian IT industry has been moderated since last year. In the previous edition of the ANIS Sentiment Survey, published at the beginning of 2023, over 68% of respondents indicated that they would end the year with an increased team, but only 44% of them ended the previous year with a higher number of employees. At the same time, while only 9.5% expected a decrease in the number of employees in 2023, at the end of the year, 24% of respondents indicated that the company's team had shrunk. 

Better news comes from the volume of contracted projects. Initially, 61% of managers expected the number of contracted projects in 2023 to increase, and at the end of the year, 56% stated that these objectives had been achieved. 

Estimates regarding revenues have not undergone major changes in the segment that registered growth. Thus, at the beginning of 2023, companies expected, in proportion to 65%, to end the year with increased revenues, and 62% of them succeeded. 

According to the ANIS Sentiment Survey, 64% of IT companies aim to finish 2024 with a larger team than in 2023. 28% of respondents estimate that their team will remain the same this year, and only 8% believe it will decrease during the year. 

Among the respondent companies, 56% anticipate that they will have higher turnover in 2024 compared to 2023, 34% believe it will be similar, and 10% consider the possibility of a decrease in revenues. 

According to the ANIS Sentiment Survey, 96% of companies indicated that the fiscal changes adopted by the government had a significant or moderate impact on them in 2023.

"These fiscal measures have sent a confusing message in the economy, so much so that the industry no longer understands what the priorities are and what the government's economic policy is. The unpredictability of public policies, especially in fiscal matters, materializes in economic results below potential," commented the Executive Director of ANIS. 

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