By the Business Desk | Quarterly Report — Q2 2026 (March–May)

The curtain fell on the second quarter of 2026 with alarming figures that paint a stark picture of Romania’s business environment. What started as a promising March — with 14,438 new company registrations , the strongest month of the entire quarter — deteriorated into a worrying freefall by May, when registrations plunged to just 12,427 .

That represents a staggering 14% drop in just two months, from March to May. Even more troubling: the 12-month moving average has now slipped to 13,288 , down from 13,326 the previous month, confirming that the long-term trend has decisively turned negative.

The Quarterly Totals: Growth Masks a Rotting Core

Over the entire three-month period (March through May 2026), Romania recorded a total of 39,504 new business registrations. On the surface, that beats the 36,972 registrations in the same quarter of 2025 — an apparent 6.8% improvement.

But this headline number is dangerously misleading. The entire “growth” was concentrated in March — up 14.48% year-on-year for that month alone . By April, the growth had already shrunk to 10.09% . And by May? A full reversal into negative territory, with registrations falling 3.51% below May 2025 levels .

The trend line is unambiguous: a steep, accelerating decline.

The Entity Type Disaster: SRLs in Full Retreat

The most alarming structural shift in this quarter is the collapse of the SRL (limited liability company) — traditionally the backbone of Romanian entrepreneurship, the entity of choice for anyone serious about building a real business.

In March, SRL registrations stood at 7,932 . By May, they had fallen to just 6,964 — a 12.2% quarterly decline.

Year-on-year, the picture is catastrophic:

Every single month of Q2 2026 saw fewer SRL registrations than the same month in 2025. The cumulative SRL deficit for the quarter stands at -2,119 companies compared to last year.

The PFA Surge: A Flight to Informality

So who is filling the gap? PFAs (Authorized Natural Persons) — the sole proprietorship structure that requires far less capital and carries no limited liability protection.

PFA registrations exploded: 5,806 in March , 4,930 in April , and 4,816 in May . Year-on-year, PFAs are up a staggering 61.68% in March , 36.64% in April , and 14.72% in May .

This is not a healthy entrepreneurial boom. This looks like a flight from formal, capitalized business structures into low-cost, low-protection self-employment — the kind of shift typically seen when economic confidence evaporates and people are scared to commit capital. The “II” (Individual Enterprise) category tells the same story, with double-digit growth across all three months.

The Death Spiral: Exits Crush New Entries

Perhaps the most damning statistic of the entire quarter is the business churn rate — the ratio of company closures to new registrations. In a healthy economy, more companies are born than die. In Q2 2026, the opposite is true — and by a terrifying margin.

In March, Romania saw 15,609 total business exits (suspensions, dissolutions, and deregistrations) against 14,438 registrations, yielding a churn rate of 108.11% . In other words, for every 100 new companies, 108 disappeared.

By April, it got worse: 15,657 exits against 12,639 registrations, a churn rate of 123.88% .

May brought the total exits to 14,478 against just 12,427 registrations — a churn rate of 116.50% .

Across the entire quarter, 45,744 businesses were wiped out — suspensions, dissolutions, and full deregistrations combined — while only 39,504 were born. That’s a net loss of 6,240 companies.

Deregistrations Surge Most Violently

Looking at lifecycle events year-on-year, the most explosive growth is in deregistrations — the final, permanent removal of companies from the register. In April 2026, deregistrations hit 9,827 , a staggering 25.03% increase over April 2025 . That’s nearly 2,000 more companies being permanently erased from the commercial landscape than in the same month last year.

Dissolutions also spiked: 5,295 in March , up 11.57% from March 2025 .

Only suspensions showed a slight improvement — but that’s cold comfort when the total exit machine is running at full throttle.

Industrial Carnage: Transport and Trade in Freefall

The industry-level data for May reveals which sectors are bleeding worst.

Transport and Storage — the star performer of recent years — suffered a catastrophic collapse. In May 2026, just 1,755 transport companies registered , down from 2,616 in May 2025 — a 32.91% year-on-year implosion. The March numbers had been strong at 2,419 , but the momentum vanished.

Wholesale and Retail Trade also lost ground every single month of the quarter: down 11.49% in March, 8.66% in April, and 18.16% in May year-on-year.

Real Estate Transactions are withering: down 27.07% in May year-on-year.

On the other hand, Agriculture nearly doubled in May — up 70.49% — and Manufacturing grew 51.62% . But these isolated bright spots cannot compensate for the devastation in the large-service sectors that form the backbone of the urban economy.

Regional Picture: Bucharest Loses Its Shine

Bucharest remains the largest registration hub with 2,912 new companies in May , but down sharply from 3,578 in March — an 18.6% quarterly collapse in the capital alone. Ilfov, Cluj, and Timiș all followed the same downward trajectory.

Some smaller counties like Călărași (+57.35%) and Giurgiu (+34.07%) showed growth in May , but these are from very low bases and likely reflect one-off effects rather than a structural turnaround.

The Verdict: A Quarter of Contraction Disguised as Growth

Let’s not mince words. The Q2 2026 quarter for Romanian business registrations is defined by:

1. A 14% intra-quarter collapse from March to May
2. SRLs in structural decline, down every single month year-on-year — a loss of over 2,100 limited companies
3. More businesses dying than being born in every single month — a net loss of 6,240 companies
4. An unsustainable churn rate averaging over 116%
5. A shift toward low-investment, low-protection PFAs, suggesting deep risk aversion
6. Transport and Trade imploding — sectors that were the engine of registration growth

The March spike may have briefly fooled optimists, but the trajectory from April onward reveals the truth: Romania’s entrepreneurial engine is sputtering. The net contraction across the quarter — with 45,744 exits against 39,504 entries — points to an economy where businesses are giving up faster than new ones dare to start.

And with the 12-month moving average now in decline, the second half of 2026 looks ominous.