Romania's finance minister estimates 4.6% economic growth this year

Romania's economy will increase by 4.6% this year, according to projections expressed by minister of finance Adrian Caciu.

The country's GDP rose by 5% YoY in the first three quarters of the year, and the annual growth rates have declined, still remaining significant at 4% YoY in Q3.

"It's true, signs of a slowdown are becoming evident, this must be the signal for how we design the budget for 2023. [We must] intervene with economic stimuli so that we give a boost to the economic growth", minister Caciu stated, according to News.ro.

"I remind you that, in the first quarter of the year, when the conflict in Ukraine kicked out, everyone saw us as heading to a recession," he added.

What really took analysts by surprise when the statistics office INS published the Q3 GDP flash estimate on November 15 was the quarterly dynamics, which indicated a 1.3% QoQ advance for the seasonally-adjusted GDP at a moment when the consensus forecast was much more pessimistic, envisaging technical recession for the coming quarters. Minister Caciu rejected accusations about the statistics being window-dressed by the statistics office INS.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)