At the beginning, there was a Centre of Planning Studies and Research, set up in April 1970 as part of the State Planning Committee. In 1977, the Centre was transformed into the Institute for Planning and Forecasting under the lead of both the State Planning Committee and the National Institute for Economic Research.
The Institute for Economic Forecasting (IEF) has been established in 1990, on the structure of the Institute for Planning and Forecasting, in order to facilitate the policy oriented economic research into the transitional environment and the impact of the EU integration process for the Romanian economy. Since then, the Institute has become a leading economic think-tank in Romania and all our analyses have played a major role in the decision making process at macroeconomic level in recent years. Institutions such as the National Bank of Romania, branch ministries (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Research and Technology, Department for European Integration), international organisations (UN, World Bank Mission in Romania), trade unions and entrepreneurs' associations are among the domestic beneficiaries of our studies and analyses.
The heads of the institution were, along years:
| Ionel Desmireanu | - | Nov. 1970 | - | April 1974 |
| Toma Melinte | - | May 1974 | - | Dec. 1976 |
| Ionel Desmireanu | - | Jan. 1977 | - | Dec.1992 |
| Marin Comsa | - | Jan.1993 | - | Dec.1996 |
| Ionel Desmireanu | - | Jan.1997 | - | Feb.1998 |
| Lucian Liviu Albu | - | March 1998 |