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Romania Growth Top in EU in Q2

Romania Growth Top in EU in Q2
Romania Growth Top in EU in Q2

Romania has registered the biggest economic growth out of the 28 member states of the European Union in the second quarter of the year, with a GDP increase of 1.5%, according to an estimation of the European Statistics Agency Eurostat.

According to the agency, the eurozone’s  GDP grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of the year, after an increase of 0.5% in the previous three months, while the EU registered an expansion of 0.4%, after an increase of 0.5% registered in the previous three months, Business Review reported.

The biggest growth rates were recorded in Romania (1.5%), Hungary (1%), Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland (all with 0.9%). Only in three member states (France, Italy and Finland) there was zero expansion of GDP.

Also, Romania registered the biggest economic growth in EU in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period of 2015, of 5.9%, followed by Slovakia (3.7%) and Spain (3.2%). The only decrease was registered in Greece (-0.9%).

According to the temporary data published by the National Statistics Institute, the local economy grew by 5.2% in the second semester of this year, as gross series, compared with the same period of 2015.

  Domestic Consumption

The household consumption contributed 7.3 percentage points to the gross domestic product growth in the second quarter and gross fixed capital formation added another 2.6 pp.

However, the high domestic demand also led to a significant increase in imports, which is why net exports had a negative contribution of 3.4 pp to the second quarter GDP growth. Inventories also had a negative contribution of 0.8 pp, according to the INS.

On the supply side, all sectors had a positive contribution to Romania’s GDP growth. Wholesale and retail, transport and storage, hotels and restaurants contributed 2.1 pp. The sector has a 19% share in the GDP. IT&C, which only accounts for 7.2% of the GDP, contributed 1.1 pp to the second quarter growth, due to a 17.3% increase in volume.

Industry was the third-biggest contributor to GDP growth in the second quarter, adding 0.6 pp, while agriculture and public services contributed 0.4 pp each.

Meanwhile, net investment in Romania’s economy grew 8.7% on the year to 29.31 billion lei ($7.3 billion) in the first half of the year, provisional statistics office data showed on Tuesday.

Investments in new construction works accounted for 43.9% of all investments through July, while investments in machinery and vehicles made up 45.5%, INS said.

In the second quarter alone, net investments in Romania’s economy grew by 9.7% on the year.

Financialtribune.com