Romania's economic growth to reach 8.5 - 9.1% this year, finance minister estimates

Romania's Economy and Finance Minister, Varujan Vosganian, gauged the economic growth rate to stand around 8.5 and 9.1 percent this year, said the government spokeswoman, Camelia Spataru.

Romania could end this year with an economic advance of 8 percent, Vosganian said on September 9.

Vosganian added it is the first time the country reached negative inflation this year, in August.

Consumption prices slipped 0.09 percent in August versus July, as it was the second month with deflation after the anticommunist upheaval in 1989, after August 2006, when the annual inflation stood at -0.07 percent.

Exports exceeded 3 billion euros, according to Vosganian, and increased by 150 million euros versus June.

Romania's gross domestic product (GDP) was of 195.8 billion lei in the first half of the year, a record advance of 8.8 percent versus the similar period in the previous year. It climbed 9.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, another post-revolutionary peak.

The country's prognosis body (CNP) estimated an economic growth of 6.5 percent for 2008 in its spring report, but data of record high results for the first semester could hike the estimates of the autumn report.

NewsIn