Romanian deputy PM says economic growth remains on track

Deputy PM Viorel Stefan: Romanian economy continues to grow above EU average, focus on investments

Deputy PM Viorel Stefan says that Romania’s economic growth of 4.2 percent in the first quarter versus the same period of last year shows that expansion of the economy is “robust”.

Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU, said that Romania ranked fifth among the 28 European Union member states in terms of GDP growth y/y.

“Just like last year, the growth is placed at a double level compared to the EU average, 2.4 percent the average, 4.2 percent the growth of the Romanian economy. As the European Commission has already stated, we have a robust economic growth, and the growth rhythm is the one estimated by the EC for this year,” said Stefan.

Quarter on quarter, the economy remained flat. Stefan this data is “less relevant because it has a contribution of just 19 percent, if we refer to the whole year.”

“Secondly, we have to observe that regularly, the first quarter is influenced by uncertain conditions to a larger extent compared to the other quarters during the year,” said Stefan, according to Agerpres.

Stefan said the government wants “investments to represent the main growth engine”. He cited data according to which the turnover in the industry sector climbed by 13.7 percent, while orders were up 15.8 percent. He pointed out that the conditions are in place for the growth trend to continue in the next quarters.

Speaking about Romania’s trade position, he said the target is for Romanian to reach a surplus by 2020. Stefan showed that the ration between exports and imports was 9.8 percent on exports and 10.8 percent on imports.

In the first quarter, foreign investments stood at EUR 1.38 billion versus EUR 1.14 billion in the same period of last year.

The minimum wage climbed from EUR 205 in December 2016 to EUR 250 in March 2018, while the median wage from EUR 521 to EUR 581 in the same period, added the government official.