Romania's GDP continued to contract with a 2.5 percent slump in Q3 from 2009.
It was the nation's 7th negative quarter making it the EU's second-biggest loser after Greece.
Experts say a tax increase and wage cuts sapped demand.
Romania raised the value-added tax by 5 percentage points and cut public wages by 25 percent.
The economy even shrank 0.7 percent from Q2, when it grew for the first time since 2008.