Ernst&Young: Romania's economy to grow by 1% in 2011 and 4% in 2012

The Romanian economy is estimated to grow by one percent this year, while for 2012 it is expected to advance by 4 percent, while the investments and the consumption will start to recover, shows "Eurozone Forecast - Spring 2011"quarterly report made by Ernst&Young in collaboration with Oxford Economics. “Overall we still expect GDP to grow just 1 percent in 2011, a very weak result, driven by net exports. Still, the outlook remains very uncertain. A rebound in growth to 4 percent is forecast for 2012 as investment and consumption gather pace, but there is still a risk on the downside”, shows the report. It goes on saying that “coupled with the policy uncertainties, the weak growth profile means that Romania is unlikely to get its budget deficit close to 3 percent of GDP until 2015”. In 2012, an acceleration of the economic growth to 4 - 4.5 percent is expected and the inflation, which increased in late 2010 as a result of high prices for fuel and food and because of the VAT increase, is expected to stay within the target of the Romanian Central Bank (BNR). The data from the fourth quarter of 2010 and recent indicators show that Romania will reach an economic growth of 1.5 percent in 2011, according to the country report of the International Monetary Fund. The on-line version of the report made by Ernst&Young can be found here. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com