IMF revises up Romania’s GDP growth forecast for 2013-2014

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently revised the economic growth forecast for Romania, expecting the GDP to go up to 2 percent in 2013 and 2.25 percent in 2014. The previous forecast of the IMF and the Romanian authorities included a growth of 1.6 percent for this year and 2 percent for 2014. The IMF revised its growth projection for Romania taking into account the country’s “strong exports in the first part of the year,” reads an IMF statement. The International Monetary Fund expects Romania’s current account deficit to continue to narrow to around 2 to 2.5 percent of GDP, while the inflation “is set to come down further, entering the central bank’s target band before end-2013.” According to the recent data provided by Romania’s Statistics Institute INS, the country’s annual inflation rate was of 5.37 percent in the first half of the year, close to what the Romanian Central Bank BNR had forecasted. In June, the monthly inflation rate was of only 0.01 percent. A joint IMF, European Commission (EC) and the World Bank mission visited Bucharest between July 17 and July 31. Romania and the IMF and EC recently agreed on a new EUR 4 billion loan - more about it here. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com