The data show the IT&C sector has got the power to pull the economy up and the fact that it generated one quarter of the GDP growth offset the construction sector decline.
The sector witnessed a spectacular increase in value added going from 21 billion lei (EUR4.7 billion) in 2013 to RON24 billion in January-September. The IT&C contributed as much as agriculture to the GDP in the first nine months.
Whereas the sector ranked ninth by contribution to the GDP last year, it ranked sixth along with agriculture and construction in the first three quarters of 2014 (each of which having contributed RON24 billion to the GDP), despite the latter two having contributed more to the GDP in 2013. This shows how much potential for growth IT&C has.
“It is notable that services exports posted very high growth, 31%, overlapping with a hefty increase in gross value added in the IT&C sector by more than 20%,” says Eugen Sinca, senior analyst with Romania’s largest bank, BCR.
“This is beneficial considering Romania’s gradual shift from exports of cheap products to exports of high-tech goods and services, made by a higher paid and better educated work force.”
Juraj Kotian, head of Central and Eastern Europe Macro/Fixed Income Research at Erste Group Bank, believes the government should take steps to stimulate the business sector, especially those areas with high value added. It should therefore focus on areas like services, and especially technology and communications.
Some analysts, however, are skeptical about the sector.
“There may be revisions, I’ve seen growth in the IT&C sector followed by downward revisions,” says Ionut Dumitru, chief economist of Raiffeisen Bank.
Industry had the highest contribution to the GDP in the first nine months, almost half of the 2.8% growth. It contributed 30% to the GDP formation both in the first nine months and in the third quarter.
Agriculture, on the other hand, contributed nothing to the economic growth of the first nine months and 0.2% in the third quarter. Its share of the GDP stood at almost 10%.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)