FT Beyond BRICS: Romania, the only positive surprise in CEE

Of all the Central and Eastern European economies, Romania was the only positive surprise after the announcement of the GDP evolution numbers on Tuesday, writes a recent article posted by the Financial Times on its Beyond BRICS hub. “Romania, which has struggled longer than other CEE economies to emerge from the post-2008 recession, provided the only positive surprises in Tuesday’s numbers. While Q2 growth of 1.4 per cent year-on-year was down Q1′s 1.7 per cent, it was well above the forecasts of 0.8 per cent growth. The better-than-expected results may be due to stronger construction data as well as some improvement in consumption, Georgiana Constantinescu, analyst with Credit Europe Bank in Bucharest told Reuters,' according to the FT article. On Tuesday, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania all reported slower GDP growth in the second quarter. Germany is reported as the biggest trading partner for the CEE countries. But sooner or later, if Germany catches a cold, all of CEE will start sneezing, the author of the article concludes. Read the full post 'CEE caught in Germany's downdraught' by Ivana Kottasová here. editor@romania-insider.com