With an advance of 7 percent in Q 4 2017 compared to the similar period of 2016, Romania saw the fastest annual GDP growth in the EU for the interval October – December 2017, shows an Eurostat flash estimate released this Wednesday.
By comparison, the seasonally adjusted GDP rose 2.7 percent in the euro area from the same quarter of the previous year and the EU28 GDP growth was 2.6 pct.
Eurostat data however points to a slowdown of the Romanian economy in Q4 2017 to 7 percent after 8.5 percent in Q3.
Eurostat data is in line with the figures previously announced in the day by the National Institute of Statistics according to which Romania’s economy increased 7 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, and in Q4 2017 the yearly advance of the GDP slowed down to 6.9 pct (raw series) from 8.8 pct in Q3. Compared to the third quarter of 2017, Romania’s economy was up 0.6 percent in the last three months of the year.
Eurostat points out, however, that the figures presented in this release may be revised with the GDP and main aggregates estimate scheduled for March 7, 2018.
“In 2017, the Gross Domestic Product went up, y-o-y, by 7.0 percent. The GDP in Q4, 2017 was, in real terms, by 0.6 percent higher than in Q3, 2017. As compared to the same quarter of 2016, the GDP recorded a 6.9 percent rise as raw series and by 7.0 percent as series seasonally adjusted,” the INS press release specifies.
The World Bank has recently announced that it expects Romania to report a 6.4 percent rise of the GDP in 2017 as compared to the 4.4 percent forecasted in June.
The International Monetary Fund has also revised from 4.2 percent to 5.5 percent the estimates regarding the evolution of the Romanian economy in 2017, in the “World Economic Outlook” report, released on 10 October.
