Romania's H1 GDP growth 4pct, Q3 advance at 1.4pct

Romania's economy increased 4 percent in H1 2018 compared to the same period of the year before, after the 1.4 pct quarter-on-quarter growth in real terms in Q2, shows data released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) according to Agerpres.

In a Y-o-Y comparison, GDP growth in Q2 2018 was 4.1 percent as unadjusted series and 4.2 percent as seasonally adjusted series.

Romania's economy advanced 0.1 pct in real terms in Q1 2018 compared to the previous quarter, to 226.281 billion lei in current prices. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP growth was 4 percent as unadjusted series and 4.2 percent as seasonally adjusted series.

In the first half of 2018, the GDP was 4 percent up from H1 2017 as unadjusted series and 4.2 percent higher as seasonally adjusted series.

In its Spring 2018 Economic Forecast released in early May, the European Commission further affirmed its estimates for Romania's economic growth this year at 4.5 percent, projecting a 3.9 percent advance of GDP in 2019.

The World Bank recently announced that Romania's economy will advance 5.1 percent in 2018, but warned that this growth is above potential. The IMF too projects an economic growth of 5 percent, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) estimates an increase of 4.6 percent of the country's economy in 2018 and of 4.2 percent in 2019.

The National Prognosis Commission expects GDP growth to be 6.1 percent in 2018, followed by 5.7 pct in 2019 and 2020, and 5 pct in 2021, respectively.

Romania's economy expanded 6.9 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, 4.8 percent in 2016, and 3.9 percent in 2015.