The country’s GDP was higher by 5.2% in real terms in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
The annual growth rate in the first quarter of 2022 is higher than that in the fourth quarter of 2021, when the country’s economy grew by 2.4%. Romania’s GDP advanced 5.9% in 2021.
The quarterly growth rate also accelerated in early 2022 following an increase of just 1% in the fourth quarter of 2021 versus the third quarter of 2021.
Romania’s economy is expected to slow down its growth to 2.6% in 2022 after advancing 5.9% in 2021, the European Commission (EC) said in its Spring 2022 Economic Forecast report released on Monday (May 16). In February 2022, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Commission estimated that Romania’s economy would grow by 4.2% in 2022 and by 4.5% in 2023.
In early May 2022, Romania’s national commission for prognosis and statistics in its spring report revised downward its projection for the country’s economic growth for 2022 to 2.9% from a previous projection of 4.3% in its winter forecast, in the context of Russia-Ukraine conflict and the international sanctions imposed.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its economic growth projection for Romania to 2.2% for 2022 from a previous projection of 4.8% made in October 2021, the Fund said in the April 2022 edition of its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.