Romania’s GDP completes five-quarter quasi-stagnation in Q1 2025

Romania’s GDP increased by an average of 0.1 q/q over the past five quarters to Q1 2025, when it posted a meager 0.3% y/y advance and quarterly standstill (+0% q/q), according to data published by the statistics office INS. The new data provides details on specific formation and utilization segments but confirms the overall economic dynamics.

On the formation side, in annual terms, the robust growth in constructions (+9.8% y/y, partly on a low base) combined with slight advances in IT&C and real estate was offset by the shrinking industrial activity (-3.0% y/y).

The 0.3% y/y advance was secured by the net taxes minus subsidies – reflecting fewer subsidies extended this year compared to 2024.

The final consumption advanced by 2.8% y/y and pushed up net imports – which hit 7.5% of the total demand (consumption plus gross capital formation), the largest share since 2010.

Notably, the ratio that shows how much the country’s global demand for consumption and investments exceeds the local production has exceeded 10% quite frequently during 2004-2008.

However, the FDI inflows in Romania were much higher at that time: 8.6% of GDP in 2024 and 9.0% of GDP in 2006, compared to 2.1% in 2023 and 1.6% in 2024.

(Photo source: Oleg Kachura/Dreamstime.com)