A: Romanians use Romanian lei as a form of currency. The value is approximately 3 lei for each US dollar. A few years ago, they changed the money, dropping 4 zeros. (It used to be 30,000 lei to the dollar.) The old currency was known as Romanian Lei (ROL); the new currency is known as Romanian New Lei (RON). (You can click here to read a blog post I wrote about the currency change.) Although prices are always listed using RON, Romanians often still use the old currency in their day-to-day speech, so it can take some time to understand what they are talking about. For example, Romanians usually talk about large purchases by talking about how many million lei it will cost, rather than talking about how many hundred lei it will cost in the new currency. Similarly, a shopkeeper may verbally state that the price is 100, when what she means is actually one hundred thousand of the old lei, which equates to 10 new lei. Trust me - you get used to it after a while.
Q: What about the Euro?
A: Since the Euro is the most common form of currency in Europe, many large purchases (like buying a car or a house) in Romania are conducted in Euros rather than in lei. Other times, when paying for something like my monthly cell phone bill, I am quoted a price Euros, but I can only pay with lei according to that day's exchange rate.
Q: Do things cost more or less in Romania?
A: This is a difficult question to answer because there’s no straight answer. In 2001, when I first went to Romania, most items cost significantly less in Romania than in the US. Today, some items and services still cost less than in the US, but the majority of things cost the same or even more. To give a few examples: (1) the cost to use professional services such as a plumber, electrician, or even a doctor is significantly less than you would pay in the US, (2) the cost of electronics (computers, DVD players, cameras, etc.) is more. Part of issue is that affects the price of items is the amount paid in sales tax.
Q: Are there taxes in Romania?
A: Yes! There are sales taxes and property taxes, among other taxes. In fact, the Romanian version of sales tax is a whopping 24%! Click here to read about sales tax in Romania.
Q: What is the Average Romanian’s salary?
A: The average Romanian in Sighisoara takes home about $300 a month, after taxes. Some make more, others less. When taking into consideration that the price of items is often the same as in America, you can see that few Romanians have extra money left over for spontaneous or frivolous purchases. The elderly especially need to manage their finances with extreme care; their very small pensions sometimes do not even cover utilities, taxes, food, and medicine.
Q: How much does a gallon of gas cost?
A: Believe it or not, even with gas prices reaching $4.00/gallon in the US, the US still has the cheapest gas prices in the world. This is especially true when you take into consideration the amount the average American takes home in pay when compared to the average Romanian. Romanians currently pay around $8.00/gallon. Read more about how this affects Romanians by clicking here.
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