The International Monetary Fund (IMF) could cut its forecast for 2018 economic growth rate in Romania from 5.1 percent to 4-4.5 percent, Alejandro Hajdenberg, the FMI permanent representative in Romania, at the 2018 Investor Conference Days 2018.
“For this year we have a projection of 5.1 percent, officially GDP growth, but this will be revised in October and based on the latest indicators, the significant deceleration of economic activity in the first half of the year will be probably around 4-4.5 percent,” said Hajdenberg.
He stressed that the long-term growth projection of 3-3.5 percent will be preserved.
The FMI official also said that for this year the fund projected a fiscal deficit of 3.6 percent of GDP, the figures are still being analyzed, but for the time being “they remain worried that the 3 percent target could be missed.”
In the World Economic Outlook, published in April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised upwards from 4.4 percent to 5.1 percent estimates of the Romanian economy’s evolution this year.
On the other hand, in 2019, the FMI expected a significant slowdown, to 3.5 percent, of Romania’s GDP growth.