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EC estimates of Romania's 2019 economic growth at 4pct
The European Commission has revised upwards to 4 percent its forecast for Romania’s economy for this year, following the growth above expectations registered in Q1.
In May, the EU executive branch had estimated that Romania’s GDP growth will ease to 3.3 percent this year.
In its latest report, the Romanian economy is only forecast to grow by 4 percent this year, the 4th highest rate in the EU.
Romania’s government forecast body estimates a growth rate of 5.5 percent this year.
Romania’s GDP rose by 5 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2018, to RON 200.4 billion (EUR 42.2 billion), according to National Institute of Statistics (INS) revised data.
The report revises downward the previously released preliminary data showing Romania’s GDP grew by 5 percent year-on-year and by 1.3 percent quarter-to-quarter in Q1 2019.
The GDP growth rate recorded in Q1 2019 was mainly due to the increase in information and communications sector, by 11 percent compared to Q1 2018, in professional, scientific and technical activities (+9.6 percent), in retail, wholesale, transport, logistics and HORECA (+6.9 percent), and construction (+6.6 percent).
But industry, a sector that accounts for almost a quarter of the country’s GDP, grew by only 0.9 percent year-on-year in Q1 2019, while activity in banking and insurance was almost flat (+0.1 percent).
Last year, Romania posted a GDP growth rate of 4.1 percent, up to RON 944.2 billion (EUR 202.9 billion).