In 2010, the economy decreased its contraction to 1.2% 

Romania’s GDP in the fourth quarter for 2010 was in real terms, higher than 0.1% than in the third quarter in 2010. Compared to the last quarter in 2009, the GDP registered a 0.6% decrease on gross series and by 0.5% on adjusted series. In 2010, compared to 2009, the GDP (gross) decreased by 1.2%, a press release of the National Statistics Institute reads. The signal is good, some analysis estimating a contraction up to – 1.9% annually. The contraction rate decreased considerably and only the VAT increase blocked the economy from going on positive numbers, Macroanalitica managing partner Laurian Lungu said for HotNews.ro.

The numbers are beyond our expectations and we hope to have an increasing trend, Ionut Dumitru, Raiffeisen Bank chief economist declared for HotNews.ro. Even though statistics show good signs, they do not reveal a decrease in the distance separating Romania from other European countries.

Let’s not forget that Romania is still, annually, on negative numbers while other economies past the zero threshold towards positive growth. Most of our problems are structural which take time to be improved and we still need to improve productivity, labor market and counter fiscal evasion. The economic growth for 2011 is estimated at 1.5% and is still insufficient to create new jobs. Only economic growth of 2% and more can generate more labor force absorption.