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President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that a decade and a half after joining the European Union, Romania is still far behind in terms of financial inclusion and financial intermediation, and Romanians are "far behind" the European average in terms of online shopping population.
"A decade and a half after joining the EU, Romania is still far behind in terms of financial inclusion and financial intermediation. Since European accession, we have enjoyed remarkable economic growth, starting from a GDP of around 100 billion in 2006, and going up to almost 270 billion euros this year, despite the two severe crises that occurred during this period. The finance and banking sector, with a key role in mobilising resources for funding, also developed significantly. In the last 15 years, non-government credit has almost quadrupled, and the value of the stock market is now three times higher, but Romania continues to have the lowest rate of financial intermediation in the EU. There are nearly 20 million bank cards issued, and the e-commerce sector has exceeded 6 billion euros, but we are still well below the European average in terms of online shopping population," said Iohannis.
Iohannis attended on Thursday the first edition of the Financial Education Forum, organised by the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and the Romanian Association of Banks under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.
AGERPRES
