Further confirmation of Romania being officially in recession comes today ( June 6 ) with the publication of GDP figures by EU statistics wing Eurostat. Romania's economy shrank by 0.1 percent in Q1 2012 on the previous quarter – the second consecutive quarterly GDP fall, which is the official definition of recession.

Quarter on quarter GDP averages in both the eurozone and the EU were flat. Compared to the first quarter of 2011, Romania's economy has grown by 0.8 percent, while the EU's has increased 0.1 percent and the eurozone's fallen by 0.1 percent for Q1 2012 against Q1 2011.

Romania joins other EU states dropping into recession at the end of the first quarter. Spain and the UK both went into recession, while The Czech Republic, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy and Cyprus were already in recession by the end of 2011.

Figures were unavailable for Ireland, but the country's economy had shrunk for three consecutive quarters in 2011. No figures for Greece either, but then nobody needs the official GDP figures to know that Greece is in big trouble. Hungary is teetering on the edge, after zero growth in the final quarter of 2011 and a GDP drop in Q1 2012.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)