The country’s gross domestic product expanded by 0.8% on the year in the first quarter, while the EU average GDP growth was 0.1%, EU’s statistics office Eurostat said in a flash estimate.
Latvia reported the largest annual economic growth in January through March, of 5.5%, followed by Lithuania with 4.3% and Estonia with 4%. At the opposite end, Greece’s economy contracted the most in the first quarter from the year-ago period. The Hellenic nation posted a 6.2% annual decline, after a 7.5% contraction a quarter earlier.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, Romanian economy shrank 0.1% in January to March, after a 0.2% decline in the previous quarter.
GDP remained stable in both the euro area and the EU27 during the first quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter.