The country experienced the biggest drop in the European Union with a 1 percent decrease between the second and the first quarter, from +0.2 percent to -0.2 percent, according to Eurostat data.
Romania’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014 from the similar span of time of last year. It was the second quarter in a row when Romania had the largest annual economic growth in the EU after in Q4 2013 Romania registered a 5.1 percent GDP increase.
On Thursday, INS announced that Romania’s economy decreased by 1 percent in the second quarter of 2014, compared to the first quarter of the year. When compared to the same quarter the previous year, the GDP increased by 1.2 percent in gross series and by 1.4 percent in seasonally adjusted series.
In the first half of 2014, Romania’s GDP increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year in gross series. The increase was of 2.6 percent in seasonally adjusted series.
“While the final data will probably show an upward revision, this is a very weak number by all accounts,” UniCredit Bank economist Dan Bucsa said, quoted by Reuters.
Romania has been in technical recession for two and a half years between 2008 and 2011 and again in 2012, but it managed to bounce back by the end of that year.
Eurostat data shows that the euro area’s recovery unexpectedly stalled in the second quarter as its three biggest economies failed to grow, underlining the vulnerability of the region to weak inflation and the deepening crisis in Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
Germany’s economy shrank 0.2 percent in the second quarter, its first contraction since 2012, while France unexpectedly stagnated, data showed today. Italy succumbed to its third recession since 2008, with GDP falling 0.2 percent in the April-June period. (source: business-review.eu)
