A surge in new registrations failed to outpace a rising tide of business exits in March, pushing Romania’s business ecosystem into negative net growth for the second consecutive month.

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The Headline Numbers: Exits Outrun New Entrants

Romania recorded 14,438 new business registrations in March 2026 — a robust 14.5% increase compared to March 2025 . On the surface, this looks like a healthy entrepreneurial pulse. But the fuller picture tells a more complex story.

Against those 14,438 new entries, the market recorded 15,609 total business exits — including 8,743 deregistrations , 5,295 dissolutions , and 1,571 suspensions . The result: a net loss of 1,171 businesses from the active registry in a single month.

The churn rate — exits as a percentage of new registrations — came in at 108.1% , meaning the market shed more businesses than it created. The health ratio, which tracks the proportion of registrations to exits, fell to 0.92 , down from 0.99 in February .

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A Sharp Deterioration from February

The month-over-month shift is striking. In February 2026, the ecosystem was essentially in balance: 13,139 registrations against 13,258 exits , for a net loss of just -119 businesses and a churn rate of 100.9% .

In March, the gap widened significantly. Registrations grew by about 1,300 month-on-month, but exits grew by over 2,350 — driven almost entirely by a spike in deregistrations, which jumped from 5,788 in February to 8,743 in March , a surge of nearly 51%. This suggests that March saw an administrative clearance wave, where previously inactive or dormant entities were formally removed from the register — a pattern that sometimes reflects regulatory enforcement or batch processing at the National Trade Register Office.

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Year-Over-Year: A Mixed Signal

Compared to March 2025, the lifecycle picture has shifted in important ways. Suspensions actually fell by 8.7% year-on-year , from 1,721 to 1,571 — potentially a sign that fewer businesses are entering temporary distress. However, dissolutions rose by 11.6% , from 4,746 to 5,295, indicating more definitive closures. Deregistrations also edged up by 2.7% .

Crucially, March 2025’s health ratio was just 0.84 , meaning March 2026’s 0.92, while below equilibrium, still represents an improvement on the same month a year earlier. Net growth in March 2025 was -2,367 , substantially worse than this year’s -1,171. In this context, the ecosystem — while still contracting — is contracting less severely than it was twelve months ago.

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The Entity Split: SRLs Retreat, PFAs Surge

One of the most notable structural developments in March’s registration data is the divergence between entity types. SRL registrations (limited liability companies, the backbone of Romanian corporate activity) fell 6.8% year-on-year , from 8,511 to 7,932 . Meanwhile, PFA registrations (sole traders and freelancers) surged by an extraordinary 61.7% , rising from 3,591 to 5,806 .

This bifurcation is significant. PFAs typically represent lower-capital, lower-commitment business formations — freelancers, tradespeople, and micro-entrepreneurs. The sustained shift from SRL formation toward PFA formation may indicate that entrepreneurs are choosing lighter structural vehicles, which could reflect both changing work patterns and some caution about committing to full corporate structures. Individual Enterprises (II) also rose 39.2% year-on-year , reinforcing this micro-business trend.

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Sector Spotlight: Who’s Growing, Who’s Vulnerable?

Most Dynamic Sectors (by registration growth)

Transport and Warehousing led all sectors with 2,419 new registrations , a 41.5% increase year-on-year — the highest absolute count of any sector and a sign of continued demand in logistics and freight. Manufacturing posted the most dramatic YoY percentage jump at +54.4%, while Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing surged +49.8%, and Arts, Entertainment and Recreation grew +40.1%.

IT and Communications (1,159 registrations, +21.5% YoY) and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (1,569, +19.7% YoY) continued their steady expansion, reflecting demand for high-skill services.

Sectors Showing Contraction

Not all sectors moved in the same direction. Wholesale and Retail Trade — Romania’s perennial registration leader — declined 11.5% YoY, recording 1,995 registrations versus 2,254 in March 2025. Healthcare and Social Assistance was the steepest faller, down 20.7% year-on-year, dropping from 338 to 268 registrations. Real Estate also contracted modestly (-5.4%), suggesting some cooling in property-related business formation.

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The Regional Picture: Who Bears the Stress?

At the county level, the churn data reveals sharp geographic disparities.

Bacău registered the highest churn rate among the top-exit counties at 144.7% — meaning for every 100 businesses created, 145 exited. Argeș was close behind at 137.9% , and Cluj at 117.5% .

In contrast, Ilfov — the county surrounding Bucharest and a major hub for logistics and industrial activity — posted a notably low churn rate of 78.3% , and București itself registered 82.9% . These two counties, which together account for 3,578 and 980 new registrations respectively, are adding more businesses than they are losing — making the Bucharest metropolitan area the clearest zone of net growth in the country.

Bihor (churn: 116.8%) and Iași (106.4%) represent mid-tier cities where exits are modestly outpacing entries, while Timiș (103.8%) is nearly in balance — just barely on the wrong side of equilibrium.

The dissolution data reinforces Bucharest’s dominance in absolute terms: București accounted for 1,245 of the 5,295 total dissolutions nationally , followed by Cluj (310), Ilfov (305), and Timiș (271) — though the Bucharest figure must be read against its far larger business population.

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The Longer View: Still Above the 12-Month Average

Despite the negative net growth, new registrations in March (14,438) were running above the 12-month moving average of 13,229 , which itself has been trending upward from 13,077 in the prior period. This suggests that underlying formation activity remains reasonably firm — the March ecosystem stress is being driven primarily by the elevated exit side, not a collapse in new business formation.

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Assessment: Stressed, But Not in Crisis

The March 2026 data paints a picture of an ecosystem under moderate but noteworthy stress. The churn rate above 100%, the declining health ratio, and the spike in deregistrations all point to a market where the pace of business closures is outrunning new formations. However, several mitigating factors prevent a more alarming read:

• Net growth is negative, but improving year-on-year (-1,171 vs -2,367 in March 2025)
• Suspensions are actually falling, suggesting fewer businesses entering acute distress
• New registrations are growing and above their 12-month trend
• The Bucharest-Ilfov metropolitan corridor remains firmly in positive territory
• High-value sectors — IT, professional services, manufacturing — are all growing

The primary concern is the sustained level of dissolutions (+11.6% YoY) and the sharp month-on-month jump in deregistrations. Whether the March deregistration spike reflects a one-time administrative clearing or the beginning of a sustained trend in business exits is something the April data will clarify.

For now, Romania’s business register is expanding at the entry gate while widening at the exit door — and the exit door, in March 2026, opened a little wider than the entrance.

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Data sourced from the Romanian National Trade Register Office via the business registration analytics platform. All figures refer to March 2026 unless otherwise noted.