Half of Romanians struggle to pay current bills, a quarter in debt, survey finds

More than half of Romanians struggle to pay their bills and almost one in four is in debt, according to the population confidence index measured by the Consumer Confidence Barometer developed by market research firm GfK. However, the confidence index has increased slightly from previous months. "After a 'hot' summer, marked by the deepest pessimism of the last ten years, the fall season means a slight recovery for the population's confidence index. (…) The number of skeptics as regards the general economic situation continues to be high and the outlook is quite bleak," according to GfK. While in July, the year's "darkest" month as far as confidence in their household's financial security, almost 75% of Romanians believed they are worse off than 12 months before, in September and October, only 7 in 10 of those who answered felt the same way. Furthermore, only a little over half of Romanians say they expect their finances to get worse, pointing to a positive trend compared to June and July when their pessimism was at its peak and two thirds said they believe the situation will be even worse by next year. Only 9% hope to be better off in the next year and 33% expect no change in their situation. Mediafax