Abstract. In the post-crisis period when domestic consumer demand had slumped, Romania and other European Union countries have tried to promote exports as an important engine of economic growth. In order to achieve this, some countries allowed a significant depreciation of their national currency so as to increase competitiveness, others turned to internal devaluations, to improvements of the exported product’s technological intensity, to diversification of export destinations, etc., depending on the pre-crisis (initial) structural conditions from which they had started. Our study aims to investigate how Romanian exports have changed in recent years, as well as the factors, both internal and external, that influence Romania’s export capacity, with the purpose of achieving economic recovery.

Keywords: export-led growth, imports, labour productivity, external demand, trade.