How long will Romanians last in their current savings, if they will no longer have an income?

According to the latest report, the World Bank estimates that the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Romanian economy will be substantial, with economic growth much slower than previous estimates. In a country where only one in five people has time deposits or savings accounts (source: Financial Market Study – Individuals, Mercury Research) how long will Romanians last in their current savings, if they will no longer have an income?

Almost a quarter of the Romanian population (24%) estimates that their savings would last for a month or less, without having an income. A similar percentage (25%) are in a better situation, estimating that they could live more than 6 months on their savings.

On average, Romanians estimate that they will be able to live on what they have for about 4 months. Men are more optimistic than women, and those from rural areas are more optimistic than those from urban areas. Some differences are to be expected – those with higher education believe they will last longer than those with average education. Moreover, those with managerial positions will last more than those without, people without installments to pay more than those with installments and those with jobs longer than those who were fired. Surprisingly, employees in the private economy are more optimistic than those in the state economy – the first ones estimate that they will last 5 months, and the latter ones only 4 months.

Almost half (49%) of those who would only last a month or less have installments to pay, while only a third (33%) of those who would last more than 6 months said they have installments.

In the context of the legislation regarding the possibility of postponing the installments, how many Romanians will be able to pay the installments as before? About two thirds say they will be able to pay installments as before, 19% will be able to pay a part, and 9% will not be able to pay at all. The probability of not being able to pay at all almost doubles for households with below-average incomes.

Some European countries plan to relax restrictions in April. In Romania, the state of emergency is to be extended for another month, but how long do Romanians expect the coronavirus pandemic to last?

The majority of Romanians (60%) expects this pandemic to last 3 months. Most opinions are split between 2 months (24%) and 3 months (22%).

14% are optimistic, they think that the epidemic will end in a month at most, and 12% are pessimistic, they think that epidemic will last more than half a year.

It is interesting to find out that Romanians estimate the duration of the epidemic according to how much they think they could live from their savings.
 

You can find more details in the full report in Romanian here and in English here. Since 1994, Mercury Research has been providing high-quality information for market insights, product optimization, operational improvement and communication.

Contact details: Ingrid Lambru, contact@mercury.ro