EXCLUSIVE: Romania’s business ecosystem is showing dangerous signs of stress as company closures dramatically outpace new registrations, creating a net loss of businesses for the first time this year.

The Bleeding Numbers

June 2025 witnessed a shocking reversal in Romania’s entrepreneurial landscape. While 11,765, a staggering 12,601 companies exited the market through suspensions, dissolutions,.

The result? A net loss of 836 - the first negative growth month of 2025 and a dramatic 8.65.

Churn Rate Hits Crisis Levels

The business churn rate - measuring exits as a percentage of registrations - reached an alarming 107.11. This means for every 100 new businesses that opened their doors, indicates the business ecosystem is fundamentally unhealthy," said one industry analyst who requested anonymity. “When more businesses are dying than being born, you’re looking at economic contraction,, with 4,391, indicating 1,665 businesses temporarily halted operations, many likely never to reopen.

Capital City Leads the Collapse

Bucharest, Romania’s economic engine, and 231 in June alone.

Constanța, Cluj, and Brașov followed with hundreds of business closures each, suggesting the crisis is spreading beyond the capital to regional economic centers.

Sectoral Carnage Revealed

While wholesale and retail trade showed the highest registration numbers at 11,942, several key sectors showed alarming declines:

• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing registrations plummeted 26.64% year-over-year
• Financial intermediation and insurance dropped 13.41%
• Manufacturing declined 6.81%
• Hotels and restaurants fell 5.89%

Most concerning, several critical sectors showed zero registrations in June 2025 compared to substantial numbers in 2024, including real estate transactions, healthcare, and energy production - all showing 100% declines.

The Transportation Bubble

The only bright spot appears to be transportation and storage,. However, experts warn this could indicate a bubble rather than sustainable growth.

“When you see one sector dramatically outperforming while others collapse, it often signals market distortion rather than healthy diversification,” the analyst noted.

What This Means for Romania’s Economy

The negative net business growth and alarming churn rate suggest Romania’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is under severe stress. With more businesses closing than opening, job losses and economic contraction could follow in subsequent quarters.

The dramatic increase in dissolutions and suspensions year-over-year indicates this isn’t a temporary fluctuation but potentially the beginning of a sustained downturn in business confidence and viability.

As one business owner who recently dissolved his company told us: “The costs keep rising, the customers keep disappearing, and the paperwork never ends. It’s just not worth it anymore.”

The Romanian business graveyard is growing faster than the nursery - and that’s a crisis that could haunt the economy for years to come.