Agriculture and industry, responsible for Romania’s lower economic growth in Q3

Romania’s economic growth eased to 3.0% in the third quarter of this year (Q3), from 4.6% in the first half of the year, the statistics office INS announced on Thursday, December 5, confirming the figures of the flash estimate issued in November.

Agriculture and industry had negative contributions to the GDP growth in the third quarter. Notably, the output in agriculture dropped by 5.5% year-on-year resulting in a 0.6% percentage points negative contribution to the GDP growth in Q3. Industry also posted a negative performance for the second quarter in a row, as the added value generated by the sector declined by 2.7% year-on-year in Q3 after the 0.6% decline in Q2 (and a marginal 0.1% annual advance in whole H1). The sector’s contribution to GDP was thus negative: -0.6 percentage points in Q3.

The performances of fast growing sectors have deteriorated as well: the added value generated by IT&C advanced by only 6.5% year-on-year in Q3 compared to 9.9% in H1 and the services to households eased to 3.7% in Q3 from 5.7% in H1.

The sector of construction stands out as the added value generated in Q3 accelerated to an outstanding 18.8% annual rate, up from 14.4% in H1. The sector’s contribution to the GDP growth was 0.9 percentage points and the real estate sector contributed another 0.4 percentage points.

On the utilisation side, households’ direct expenditures for consumption eased to 4.2% year-on-year in Q3 from 5.9% year-on-year in H1.

Notably, the gross fixed capital formation soared by 23% year-on-year in Q3 after the 13% year-on-year advance in H1. The use of imported resources (net imports) above domestic production stagnated around 3.6% of GDP in Q3 as both exports and imports advanced at slower rates compared to H1.

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