The increase in Romania’s GDP in the first half of the year was significant in almost all economic domains
The increase in Romania’s GDP in the first half of the year was significant in almost all economic domains. Trade, communications and industry contributed the most to the increase by 3.7% of the GDP as compared to the first half of 2014, shows a recent communiqué of the National Statistics Institute. For instance the industrial output grew by more than 3% in the first half as compared to the same period of last year. At the same time, energy consumption in the economic field dropped by more than 8%. How was it possible to produce more and consume less energy?
Here is Cristian Parvan, the secretary general of the Association of Businesspeople of Romania with an answer: “The explanation is simple, the structure of industrial production shifted from energy-consuming products such as those of the metallurgic industry towards manufactured products, which consume less energy and more labor or, in the future, towards further automation which requires less energy consumption. Nevertheless Romania’s energy efficiency is two times lower than the European average, therefore Romania needs to focus more on energy efficiency.”
Next, economic analyst Constantin Rudnitchi talks about industry and the results reported in the Romanian economy in the first half of the year: “Figures in the processing industry are very encouraging for the Romanian economy. They add up to other figures reported recently, which point to the growth of the construction sector that had undergone a crisis for some time. So the last to overcome the crisis was the constructions sector. We also witness an increase in loaning, especially in the national currency. A larger number of construction licenses issued has also been reported, which points to a boost of the real estate market. Last but not least we can see an increase in consumption by 4% for foodstuffs and nonfoods in the first half of the year. All this shows an increase both in exports and in the domestic market; consequently we can say that the economy is making headway. According to statistics, only the extractive industry has dropped as compared to last year. The explanation, in short, is that the price of raw materials, including oil and coal, is dropping, consumption is approached more rationally by both the population and companies, and probably, against this backdrop, the extractive industry drops or remains at the same level at best.”
Romania’s exports in the first half of 2015 amounted to 27 billion Euro, while imports stood at 30.3 billion Euro, so that the trade balance deficit increased by 15% as compared to the similar period of last year, accounting for around 3.3 billion Euro, according to data revealed by the National Statistics Institute.
With details on that, here is the General Secretary of Romania’s National Exporters and Importers’ Association Mihai Ionescu: ”Unfortunately, the picture offered by the National Statistics Institute is an initial mirror of what looms over Romanian economy – a macroeconomic instability over which certain institutions issued a warning, especially the Central Bank, and those institutions have only confirmed the fact that Romania is not yet prepared to resort to consumption as its sole economic growth factor. The fact that in six months the growth rate of imports was by one percent higher than that of exports, which triggered an increase of the trade balance deficit for the first six months as compared to last year by nearly half a billion euro, is proof of the fact that the Romanian economy is not yet ready to cope with an extra consumption demand, both for the industrial and for the farm and food products. The fact that exports have been growing this year as well is something very good, it’s just that the growth rate of imports is much faster and unfortunately imports do not match the exports, imports are for consumption only.”
In the first half of 2015, the value of the intra-community goods exchanges stood at 19.9 billion Euro in terms of exports and at 23.3 billion Euro in terms of imports, accounting for 73.6 % of the total volume of exports and 76.9% of the volume of imports. With 44.6% for exports and 36.7% for imports and other manufactured products, the machines and transportation equipment have a significant share in the structure of Romania’s exports and imports. Following are foodstuffs, spirits and tobacco, chemicals and other related products, mineral fuels, lubricants as well as raw and other materials.
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