Encouraging economic figures

In the first 3 months of 2021, Romanias GDP was 2.8% higher than in the last quarter of 2020.

Roxana Vasile, 19.05.2021, 13:50

The National Statistics Institute (INS) announced on Tuesday that Romanias GDP went up 2.8% in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2020. The same figure was made public by the EU statistics office, Eurostat, which noted that Romanias economy in the first quarter of the year was the most dynamic in the EU.

Also, according to the National Statistics Institute, the quarter-on-quarter economic growth rate was negative 0.2% in nominal terms, whereas the seasonally adjusted rate was zero.

At the end of April, the National Strategy and Forecast Committee had operated an upward adjustment to its economic growth estimate for this year, and similarly improved figures came from the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

After Tuesdays announcement by the INS and Eurostat, the Liberal PM Florin Cîțu spoke about the quickest economic recovery in history after the most severe crisis of the last century. He also said his right-of-centre coalition cabinet is working on new measures to ensure the post-pandemic economy is stronger and more competitive. And, PM Cîțu added, for the forthcoming years an economic growth rate is foreseeable that will “beat all previous estimates.

The economic analyst Aurelian Dochia confirms that figures are better than expected:

Aurelian Dochia: “We are already close to the maximum the Romanian economy saw in the first quarter of 2020. In other words, we have recovered all we lost last year, and the prospects for 2021 will likely be some of the best weve ever had.

Marcel Ciolacu, the head of the Social Democratic Party in opposition, argues that what is truly historic is the collapse of peoples spending power. The Social Democrat mentioned 17% higher electricity bills, 9% more expensive fuel, skyrocketing food prices and an inflation rate above 3%, which, he says, has “ripped through the peoples incomes already frozen by PM Cîțu.

His party colleague Mihai Fifor, a former defence minister, also states in a news release that behind the economic growth rate reported for the first quarter of the year as against the last quarter of 2020, publicised as a victory for the Liberals in power, is the truly relevant indicator, namely the comparison between Q1 2021 and Q1 2020. What PM Florin Cîţu sees as an accomplishment is in fact, according to Mihai Fifor, “the worst economic result for a first quarter in the past 5 years, worse even than last year when Romania went into lockdown. (tr. A.M. Popescu)