In July, exports reached EUR3.8 billion, up 11.5% against July of last year and the growth rate continued to slow down, after recording rates of 30%-50% in the first five months of the year. The slowdown comes against the background of the debt crisis facing countries in the euro zone, Romania’s main trade partners.
Exports were the main engine helping the economy out of recession, but their future contribution becomes uncertain because of the slowdown of Western economies.
President Traian Basescu said Saturday that many of the countries that appeared to resume economic growth “have started to move back,” asking the Romanian government to continue to take a “cautious” approach. “We are prepared to pray to God, as well as to Germany, Italy, France, Spain, which are the markets we export to, to keep their growth rates at an acceptable level so that the impact on Romania is as low as possible,” said the president, cited by Mediafax.
Prime Minister Emil Boc in turn said data on the economic trend in a lot of European Union countries and elsewhere is rather poor and indicates a continuation of the economic crisis and lower economic growth, which can indirectly affect Romania’s economic growth. For this year, though, Romania remains “on track” with its 1.5% economic growth, the prime minister said.
The data released by the National Statistics Institute on international trade shows that in the last three months exports to countries outside the European Union have started to gain ground, growing by 20% to 40% against the similar months of 2010.
While Romania’s exports to European Union countries went up by just 5.8% in July 2011 against July 2010, exports to countries outside the EU surged 26.1%.
(English version by Daniela Stoican; Editing by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu and Radu Bostan)