Economy of the Socialist Republic of Romania

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Economy of Socialist Republic of Romania

Borzești Petrochemical Plant
Currency	Leu (Leu or ROL)
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organisations	Comecon, WTO
Statistics
GDP	$180 billion
GDP rank	40th
External
Main export partners	Soviet Union
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of the Socialist Republic of Romania was centrally planned, similar to the one of the Soviet Union. Most of the means of production (including all large and medium enterprises) were owned by the state, which established production plans as part of the Five-Year Plans.

The economy grew between the 1950s and 1970s at one of the fastest rates in the world, changing Romania from a predominantly agricultural country into an industrialized country. Almost 30% of the population moved during this period from rural to urban areas to work in the newly built factories.

During the 1980s, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu pursued an austerity policy in order to pay foreign debts, leading to a decade-long stagnation and negatively affecting the living standards of the Romanians.