Romania's economy will slow down this year and will record an advance of 4.1%, while the budget deficit will exceed the 3% ceiling imposed by the EU and will reach 3.4% of the GDP, according to experts of the local lender BRD-Groupe Societé Générales.

The BRD estimate is close to the one of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which revised up Romania’s GDP growth on Tuesday, to 4.2%.

For the next years, the BRD analysts expect estimated growth rates of 3.8% in 2018 and 3.6% in 2019.

“Private consumption appears to remain the basis for economic growth, spurred by a new round of fiscal stimuli and wage increases,” reads the BRD report.

BRD expects that the budget deficit will advance to 3.4% of GDP in 2017, but subsequently will drop to 2.9% of GDP in 2018 and 2.4% of GDP in 2019. The EUR/RON exchange rate will remain stable during the period 2017-2019.

The Government estimates a growth rate of 5.2% this year and 5.5% for the next year.

editor@romania-insider.com