Romania’s first-quarter growth comes on top of good fourth-quarter performance, which stood at 4.6% compared with the third quarter.
“Romania’s economy grew 2.8% in the first quarter. Romania registers the fastest economic recovery in history in response to the biggest economic crisis of the past hundred years,” Citu wrote on Facebook.
The prime minster added he expects economic growth beyond analyst expectations in the upcoming years, pledging his government will take “all measures to make Romania’s post-pandemic economy stronger, more competitive and resilient”.
Romania’s government expects 5% GDP growth for 2021, a forecast updated just last month month 4.3% envisaged at the beginning of the year.
Analysts expect the country’s GDP growth to print anywhere between 4.2% and 6% this year. The International Monetary Fund sees the country’s economy growing 6% in 2021, which would wipe out last year’s contraction and still remain on the plus side.
Fitch Ratings, which kept Romania’s sovereign rating and negative outlook unchanged, sees an annual growth rate of 5.8% in 2020-2021, while Standard & Poor’s, which raised the country’s outlook from negative to stable, sees the country’s GDP growth at 5%.
The European Commission recently raised its GDP forecast for Romania, seeing growth at 5.1% this year from a previous estimate of 3.8%. The EU’s economy is seen growing 4.2% during the same period.