Number of SMEs up 5.1%

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) rose 5.1% (2,000 units) in 2008, compared to 2007, reaching 41,100. The SME sector accounts for about 97.6 % of the total number of enterprises.

The incomes from the sales of SMEs reached 64,984.1 million lei, that is 37.1% of the total sales in economy. 328,100 people were employed by SMEs in 2008, that is 57.3% of the total number of enterprise employees. The Bureau finds that the dimension of companies from the analyzed sector was growing. The average income from sales per enterprise was 1,581,100 lei, i.e. 130,000 lei (9%) more than in 2007.

The average incomes from the SMEs' sales per employee were 198,100 lei that is 24,800 lei (14.3%) more than in 2007. According to the Statistics Bureau, the average number of employees per enterprise in 2008 was 8, the same as in 2007. 196 companies considered as small and medium in 2007 grew to a higher category in 2008. As a consequences, these companies contributed to enhancing the income from the large companies' sales with 8,947.8 million lei in 2008.

The largest part of SMEs work in trade, more exactly there are 16,900 entities accounting for 41% from the total. 5,000 SMEs worked in the processing industry, 12% from the total. The profit gained by SMEs in 2008 was 5,483.2 million lei, that is 2,362.4 million more than in 2007.