UniCredit: Economies in the region will accelerate, except for Romania

For the first time after the economic crisis, all countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) will record real GDP growth this year and the next year, according to a study by UniCredit. Moreover, the real GDP growth will accelerate compared to last year in all countries, except for Romania, reports local Profit.ro. The country had a strong advance in 2016, but will experience the impact of recent measures to increase spending in the public sector. The GDP growth will amount to 3% or more in all the CEE countries, said Carlo Vivaldi, head of the CEE Regional Division within UniCredit. The group estimates a real GDP growth of 3.9% for Romania this year. This is higher than in most countries in the region, but is below the growth expected by the Romanian Government, of 5.2%. It is also below the 4.8% advance recorded last year. Romania’s economic growth will further slow down to 3.3% in 2018, according to UniCredit. editor@romania-insider.com