Update: Thank you for your inputs shared with us during consultations! The 2023 Update of the World Bank Group Systematic Country Diagnostic is now published.
The 2023 Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is an update of the 2018 edition, the first SCD carried out in Romania.
Online consultations are open between September 9 – October 9, 2022. Fill in the survey. We want to hear your views!
What is a Systematic Country Diagnostic?
A Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is a report produced by the World Bank for a partner country (usually every five years). It determines how a country can end poverty and boost shared prosperity, and the challenges that stand in the way of those twin goals. The SCD aims to identify the main economic development priorities of the country, including but not limited to those supported by the World Bank.
Systematic Country Diagnostics for Romania
According to the 2018 SCD, Romania’s transformation has been “a tale of two Romanias”:
one urban, dynamic, and integrated with the European Union;
the other rural, poor, and isolated.
A key lesson was that, despite impressive economic growth, it will be difficult for Romania to achieve shared prosperity and sustainable welfare improvements unless it addresses its governance challenges. This means strengthening institutions to ensure that all Romanians have equal access to high-quality public services and opportunities to leverage their full potential.
2023 Systematic Country Diagnostic Update for Romania: Main findings, pathways, and timeline
The 2023 SCD Update posits that governance and institutional constraints remain the key cross-cutting challenge for Romania development in line with the 2018 SCD findings. These constraints hamper Romania’s potential for stronger and more inclusive growth, delivery of high-quality public services to all citizens, improvement of living standards for Romanians across regions, creation of better jobs in the private sector, and capability to adapt and mitigate climate change and natural disasters.
An aging population, coupled with outmigration and skills mismatch continues to constrain the much-needed labor force for stronger growth. These challenges are further exacerbated by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing war in Ukraine.
Find out more about: Where is Romania now? | What is holding Romania back?
The 2023 SCD Update proposes six pathways to gradually overcoming these challenges, building back better from the economic impacts of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing war in Ukraine, boosting living standards of the citizens especially the most poor and vulnerable, and improving resilience to climate change and natural disasters.
Find out the 6 development pathways.
Read more in our preliminary findings and detailed-proposed pathways.
Timeline of the 2023 SCD Update and what happens next?
The process of elaborating the SCD is scheduled for October 2022 – March 2023, and includes consultations with counterparts, stakeholders, and citizens.
Once completed, the SCD will inform the next Country Partnership Framework (CPF) between the World Bank Group and Romania and, thus, guide the focus of the World Bank Group support to the country. Find out more about the current CPF.
We want to hear from you!
Online consultations are open between September 9 – October 9, 2022. We welcome inputs from all interested parties – both local and international. Fill in this survey.
Alternatively to the survey, you can describe in a short sentence a development area where you would like to see Romania making the most progress in the next 5 years. Send us your views by email at worldbankofficeromania@worldbank.org and insert “SCD Consultations” in the subject line.
Help us make the Romania 2023 SCD Update relevant, timely, and impactful!
