Additionally, the Commission’s statistical arm Eurostat will investigate “in detail” the available information on Romanian GDP revision, Eurostat’s spokesman Timothy Allen told Mediafax via email.
“Both EU member states and the Commission have the obligation to ensure the professional independence of statistical authorities and their capacity to produce sound and independent statistics (…). The Commission is currently examining this matter,” Allen said.
Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta early January dismissed Vergil Voineagu as president of the statistics institute INS, citing a “serious mistake” in calculating the 2011 GDP data, which would affect the budget figures and other economic indicators for both 2012 and 2013.
INS officials replied that the GDP revision was made in accordance with Eurostat standards and that differences between preliminary, semi-final and final data were not unusual.
However, the difference in nominal values between Romania’s preliminary and final estimate of the 2011 GDP, of minus 3.7%, was larger than its other revisions observed in previous years of around plus 2%, Allen said.
“The Romanian revision is also larger than those for other EU countries, which usually don’t exceed +/-2%,” he said.