Romania: Economic growth accelerates in Q4
According to a preliminary estimate, growth sped up in the fourth quarter, coming in at 2.9% on an annual basis (Q3: +1.1% yoy). This brings growth for 2023 as a whole to 2.0%. A full breakdown will not be available until 8 March.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy contracted 0.4% in Q4 (Q3: +0.8% qoq s.a.).
Going ahead, the economy should will grow at a faster pace this year than last owing to stronger momentum in household spending and exports, as well as a rebound in industrial production. Key factors to monitor are fiscal metrics and the renegotiation of the National Recovery Plan with the EU, while slower-than-expected progress on key reforms is a downside risk.
Commenting on the outlook, Stefan Posea and Valentin Tataru from ING stated:
“The 2.0% real GDP growth in 2023 is somewhat better than recent expectations, but well below potential and it confirms National Bank of Romania’s latest assessment of further contraction of excess aggregate demand. This will continue into 2024 for which we maintain our 2.8% GDP growth estimate, as the public investment engine is likely to get some help from private consumption as well. Monetary policy easing might help in the second half of the year, but in our view, the bigger issue is that GDP growth rates of 4.0-5.0% – that were business as usual just a short while ago – might become daring targets in the future.”